


Prove Me Wrong

by heavydirtyauthor



Category: Twenty One Pilots
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Drunk Tyler, Emo Josh, F/M, Fuckboy Tyler, M/M, Slow Burn, joshler - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-10-31 09:07:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 21,530
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10896162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heavydirtyauthor/pseuds/heavydirtyauthor
Summary: Tyler Joseph was one of the most popular guys at school. All the ladies loved him. All the guys wanted to be him. He was rich, he was the best basketball player on the team, and he had an amazing girlfriend. Who didn't like him? Oh that's right. Josh Dun that's who. Josh Dun was one of those kids who everyone forgets about. He may have been going here since pre-school, and watching all these people grow up around him, but they were all still strangers to him, save a few. He may not have known too many people all that well but he knew that he hated Tyler Joseph.





	1. A Car, a Jerk, a Class

Tyler Joseph was one of the most popular guys at school. All the ladies loved him. All the guys wanted to be him. He was rich, he was the best basketball player on the team, and he had an amazing girlfriend.

Who didn't like him? Oh that's right. Josh Dun that's who.

Josh Dun was one of those kids who everyone forgets about. He may have been going here since pre-school, and watching all these people grow up around him, but they were all still strangers to him, save a few. He may not have known too many people all that well but he knew that he hated Tyler Joseph.

He saw Tyler as a stuck up douche bag who had no brain to think for himself. He was always with his clique, judging the "weirdos" that dyed their hair, or wore all black, or just weren't "normal". So yes, Josh hated Tyler. Josh had bright yellow hair and wore all black almost every day, so Tyler probably hated Josh too, but Josh didn't care. Because Tyler's opinion didn't matter because it was wrong.

Luckily, it was the last day of junior year, so Josh wouldn't have to see Tyler for 3 months. Just one more English class with Tyler and then he'd be gone for the whole summer. Probably out with his douchey friends doing douchey things.

1 minute left of class. Josh stared at the clock. Summer break was so so so so close. They had spent the whole class period talking about summer assignments for each student in whatever English class they were taking the next year. Josh was thrilled to find out that Tyler was taking CP English next year, while Josh would be taking AP. He wouldn't have to worry about being in his English class. And Josh was in a different level of math and science as Tyler, so he wouldn't have to worry there. He probably would never have a class with Tyler again.

Hopefully.

_ Ding, _ the final bell rung.

The teacher was mid-sentence but whatever she was trying to say was lost as the rush of students sprinted out the door. Josh checked his phone. A text from Peter, his best friend, read "hey, ya coming over?" He typed a quick "yep, meet ya there" and dodged the crowd, heading towards his car in the parking lot. He shoved his backpack into the backseat, slammed the door shut and got into the driver's seat.

The car roared to life and he turned the radio up. Peter's house was only about 10 minutes away, so it wasn't going to be a long drive. Josh sat in his car for a minute, giving Peter a head start, and waiting for some of the parking lot traffic to die down. Finally he backed out of his parking spot and turned right onto the main road. He was finally out of the wasteland that is known as high school. Well just for 3 months.

He noticed a car was following closely behind him. The speed limit was 35 in this area but this car was cutting it close, so Josh went up to about 42. The car was still too close for comfort. Josh decided he'd take the back way to Peter's house. He turned his turn signal on at the next traffic light and went right. But it must have been his lucky day, because the car behind him did the same.

They were now on a narrow one way street. Josh sped up a little more. The red car behind him must have taken this as an opportunity to go faster also. Josh was going to make a left at the stop sign coming up. He began to steadily push on his breaks while his left turn signal blinked. The car behind him slowed down also.

He stopped completely at the stop sign, and counted to three. The turn was still not clear so he waited patiently. The car behind him didn't, however, and pushed right into the back of Josh's car. Josh jerked forward then back and his head hit the headrest of his seat.

"Asshole," he muttered.

He turned off his car and unbuckled his seatbelt. He looked in the glove box for his insurance card and a pen and paper to write down this stupid driver's information. He looked in the rear view mirror to get a look at the other driver and their car.

"Oh my gosh. Why did this have to happen to me?!" he shouted.

He slapped his forehead.

He opened his car door, got out and slammed it shut.

Tyler freaking Joseph got out of the car behind him.

"Oh my gosh bro! I'm so sorry! I looked away for a second and I didn't see you were stopped. I'm so sorry! I don't know what to do! I've never been in an accident! My parents are going to kill me," he said all at once.

"Shut up," Josh replied.

Tyler looked very confused. A little hurt even.

"I mean, calm down. We just gotta get each other's information and let insurance deal with it," Josh said boredly.

He walked to the back of his car and assessed the damage. Nothing too huge. Maybe about $500 worth of damage. I mean that was kind of a lot of money, but Josh wouldn't be paying for it so he didn't care. Tyler's family was rich, so it would be nothing. The front of Tyler's car was dinged up a bit too.

Of course Tyler drove a really douchey red sports car.

"Oh crap, this is gonna go through insurance?" Tyler asked.

"Yep. Now let's hurry up, I got somewhere to be," Josh replied. "Oh and you'll probably wanna call your parents."

They traded information (Tyler opted for typing into phones rather than using paper) and then each called their parents. Josh told his mom and dad that he got rear ended and that everything was fine. Tyler was freaking out a little on the phone with his parents. But Josh didn't care. He didn't care if Tyler was sad or anxious or worried. When Josh got off the phone he sent a quick text to Peter explaining that he had gotten rear ended by an idiot.

He waved to Tyler, got in his car and drove away. He made his left turn and made it into the familiar neighborhood where his friend lived.

Okay maybe he felt a little sorry for Tyler, but not really. Tyler's family was rich remember? They could pay for it easily. And then Tyler could go back to being his usual douchey self. If Josh had done something like that, he'd have to work so hard to get the money. His dad would be so mad. Josh works at the coffee shop in the area’s country club, so he'd have to give his dad all of his paychecks.

Josh finally arrived at Peter's house and was ready to forget about everything that just happened.

"Hey dude, are you okay?" Peter asked.

"Yeah, not much damage to the car. And I was just jerked a little," Josh replied.


	2. Not Today, Not Tonight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (a/n: For the record, I do NOT hate Jenna. She's a fave)

“But you’re okay though, right baby?” Jenna asked for the third time.

“Jenna, I’ve told you already. I’m completely fine. Just gotta work out some details with my parents,” Tyler replied.

“Bro, I’m surprised they even let you come here tonight,” Mark chimed in, holding up his red solo cup.

“Yeah, that took a little convincing,” Tyler explained.

“Ah okay bro,” Mark said as he pointed at Tyler’s cup, “You want some more?”

“No I’m fine. I gotta drive Jenna home tonight.”

“Alright, I’ll be back,” Mark said and dashed away, giving a few high fives on his way to the kitchen.

It was the Friday night after the last day of school, so of course there was a party. Tyler had attended a lot since he became a star player on the school’s basketball team. He actually met his girlfriend Jenna at a party. The most popular guy and the most popular girl? It almost seemed like fate if Tyler believed in the sort of thing.

“Hey Ty, you wanna go upstairs for a bit?” Jenna asked with a wink.

“Sure,” Tyler replied awkwardly.

Tyler and Jenna had been dating for a few months, but Tyler was still kind of a little awkward around her. He didn’t think it should be this hard, but it was. He had heard lots of things from his friends.  _ First base, second base, third base, etc. _ Tyler was still a virgin, and he was absolutely terrified of the whole relationship scene. Jenna was his first girlfriend, and in the few months they had been together, he learned that he was the odd one out. You see, Jenna had been bugging him for the past few weeks about this sort of thing, so when she asked him to go upstairs, he knew what to expect.

Jenna grabbed Tyler’s hand and led him up the stairs. There were a few open doors upstairs. Jenna just walked through the closed one and brought Tyler with her.

“So what do you wanna talk about?” Tyler asked, trying to stop what Jenna had on her mind.

Jenna went behind him to close the door. “We’re not gonna do much talking.”

Any one of Tyler’s friends would have had his pants around his ankles at this point, but Tyler wasn’t like that. He didn’t really wanna do that with Jenna. Not tonight. He wasn’t sure he was ready to lose it.

Jenna stepped closer to him and put a hand around his neck. She leaned in for a kiss. Tyler reciprocated. He was comfortable for the time being, but he knew where this would go. Jenna grabbed his hands and put them around her. They kept kissing.

Jenna grabbed his hands again and pushed them further and further down her back. She began walking forward, pushing Tyler onto the bed that was behind him. She began to roll, letting him position himself on top of her. This continued for a few more minutes.

Finally, it happened. She pushed him up and began to reach for his belt.

“Jenna,” Tyler said cautiously.

Jenna looked annoyed. She was tired of how this usually went.

“Do you not love me?” she asked.

“Jenna, I love you. You know that. It’s just…”

“It’s just what? What Tyler?”

They sat there awkwardly for a moment.

Tyler offered, “I’m not ready for that yet. I’m scared.”

But the more he used that as an excuse, the less he believed it. Maybe he was ready, but he just didn’t want it to happen with her. He really loved her, but he was very reluctant about this sort of thing.

“We’ll take it real slow Ty. It’ll be just right,” Jenna whispered.

Jenna slowly pulled off Tyler’s shirt and began to suck on his chest, leaving her marks behind. Tyler didn’t usually let her this far. But he didn’t wanna let her down. He didn’t want her to think something was wrong with him.

She reached for his belt again. He let her. She unbuckled his belt, pulled down his pants, and looked at the bulge in his underwear.

“Looks big Ty,” she said softly.

Just as she reached towards his crotch, the door flew open. It was Mark.

“The cops are coming!” Mark shouted before seeing the scene in front of him. “Whoa! Shit. Didn’t know you guys were….”

A blush crept across Mark’s face, and Tyler felt very uncomfortable.

“Well anyway, we gotta get out of here!” Mark yelled.

He slammed the door behind him and ran away. Tyler was secretly glad that the cops came. He pulled his pants back on. Jenna handed him his shirt and they opened the door and ran down the steps.

The house was a crazy mess. Abandoned solo cups were on the floor, on tables, on the TV stand. Everywhere. There were teenagers running all around, trying to get out before the cops showed up. Tyler had parked his car at the playground right behind the house, so he and Jenna ran out the back door. Tyler pulled the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the car. Jenna stumbled into the passenger’s side.

Tyler hopped into the driver’s seat and put his shirt back on. He put the key into the ignition and drove off.

“Ya know,” Jenna began, “You don’t have to drive me home yet. We can pull over.”

Tyler really just wanted to go home and go to bed. He didn’t have time for an argument with Jenna. He looked at the clock.

“I don’t know, it’s getting kinda late. My parents are gonna be worried,” he replied.

“Oh,” Jenna said a little disappointed. “I guess so.”

He pulled into Jenna’s driveway. Jenna gave him a sloppy kiss and got out of the car.

Tyler was so tired.


	3. Friend? Please!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (a/n: sorry, more set-up)

The weekend had flown by so fast. Josh slept over Peter’s house that Friday night and stayed there until well into Saturday afternoon. He spent Sunday with his family. Now it was Monday and he was headed to work. He was going to be working a lot of hours this summer. He pulled up to the country club and parked in the first open space he saw. He opened his car door and stepped out. He put on his tacky “Westman’s Cafe” hat and looked down at his apron to make sure it was tied tight.

He made his way to the door. Carl was behind the counter this morning.

“Hey Carl,” he called out.

Carl waved and smiled. Carl was a middle aged man who had basically worked every position at Westman’s. He started as a dishwasher when he was in high school, began hosting and running the cashier after a few years, and eventually became a manager when he was about 32. Westman’s was his first and only job.

Carl was Josh’s favorite manager, because he understood how it felt to be a minimum-wage-working high schooler, and he was nice to Josh.

“Good morning Josh,” Carl’s warm and welcoming voice said. “We have a new guy coming in today. You will be training him.”

Summer was the season of new guys. Josh had been one himself only a year ago. He was trained by a guy named Eli who quit at the end of the summer to go to college. Eli was a cool dude. This would be Josh’s first time training anyone. He knew he would make whoever this new guy was the best Westman’s employee ever. Besides himself and Carl of course.

“What time is he coming in?” Josh asked with a bright smile.

“10 am sharp,” Carl replied.

Josh had just come in for his 8 am shift, so he had two hours before he would be training the new guy. He got to work. He restocked any bakery items that looked low and made sure all of the coffee syrups and flavorings were in their places.

It was now 8:24 am. One minute until the usual 8:25 guy came in.

During the school year, Josh didn’t work many mornings, but he worked enough of them to know that a really cute guy came in every day at 8:25 and ordered the same cup of coffee.

Cute? Should Josh use that word to describe him? I mean sure. Everyone would say that. He’s pretty sure… He never really complicates his thoughts like that.

The door opened and the bell went off. As expected, there was the tall business man in his black suit. His brown hair was gelled up, and his blue eyes were piercing. He walked up to the counter.

“Good morning,” he said sweetly. “Can I get a large English toffee latte?”

“You got it dude,” Josh replied, writing this man’s name on the cup, punching the order into the computer and swiping his credit card.

“I’ll have that coffee out in just a sec,” he added.

Josh used four squirts of the toffee syrup and poured the coffee and milk into the large cup. He gave the cup a nice stir and put a lid on it. Then he put a sleeve on the cup and set it on the counter.

“Have a nice day, sir,” he smiled.

“Thanks, you too.”

He was probably about 25, and straight. And even if he wasn’t, why would he have interest in a 16 year old emo kid? Josh set his thoughts aside and got back to work, watching the door in case any more customers walked in.

* * *

 

It was 10:05 and new guy still hadn’t shown up. Carl said it would be fine, and they should give him a few more minutes. It’s not like they needed his help anyway. Josh could run the counter by himself, they had a dishwasher on duty, and someone was in to clean tables. New guy was just a trainee anyway.

Josh was so distracted by his thoughts that he didn’t even hear the ding of the bell as the door opened. He almost missed the medium height brown haired boy with stubble walk in. But the fact that it was Tyler Joseph brought him out of his thoughts.

_ What the hell is Tyler doing here?  _ Josh thought.  _ And why is he wearing a black polo and black pants. He normally has more style than that. _

Then Josh realized. Josh freaking realized that Tyler freaking Joseph was the new guy. No wonder he was late. He was probably too busy rear ending someone. Tyler was probably late to everything important, because he just doesn’t care. He just  _ seems _ like that kind of person. That’s what Josh felt like. Josh  _ really _ hated Tyler. And now he’d be working with him???

“Josh?” Carl said, probably for the third time. He could tell that Josh was finally paying attention. “This is Tyler, the new guy.”

Tyler gave a small douchey grin and waved at Josh.

“Oh I know him,” Josh grumbled.

“Great,” Carl said oblivious to the mountain of hate Josh was harboring, “That’ll make the training less awkward.”

Carl walked away and went to the back. Probably to go supervise the baker.

“Hey bro. We go to school together. I’m sure you know me,” Tyler said holding out a fist.

Asking for a freaking fist bump?

“Yep. Okay let’s get started,” Josh said, rejecting any physical contact with Tyler.

“Hey bro, by the way, sorry about your ride. I actually picked up this job to pay for the damage,” Tyler said with a genuine smile.

Josh hated this. He hated how above himself Tyler acted. Tyler was not his  _ bro _ . Everything was not all cool. Josh just wanted to go home, get under his covers, and never see this jerk face again. Work was the one place he didn’t have to worry about judgy pricks from school. Now that was over.

“Alright, so first I’ll show you how to make all of the drinks,” Josh said unenthusiastically.

* * *

 

It was half past noon and Tyler had learned most of the menu and how to work the cash register. Josh had Tyler mostly work the cash register because he didn’t want Tyler to mess up anyone’s drink. Josh did not want to upset any loyal customers.

He was in the middle of making an iced chamomile latte when he heard his name.

“Josh?” Tyler said hesitantly. “Do we have any more mint chocolate chip muffins? There are no more in the case and I don’t know where to find them in the back.”

“I’ll check,” Josh grumbled.

Josh went through the double doors and into the kitchen. Emily was baking today. She had been growing out her hair lately. Her dark hair was past her shoulders at this point. When she saw Josh walk in, she smiled brightly.

“Hey Josh, how’s it going?” she said sweetly.

“Hey Emily! Hey, do we have any more mint chocolate chip muffins?” he replied.

“Oh, are we out up there?” she questioned. “I have some in the oven right now actually. They should be ready in about 5 minutes.”

“Thanks Em. I’ll come back to grab them in a few.”

Emily smiled at Josh as he left the room and then went back to decorating the sugar cookies she had been working on. She frosted pretty designs onto them.

Josh walked back out of the double doors and over to Tyler at the register.

“They’ll be five minutes, they’re baking right now,” Josh said, with a fake smile.

Tyler let the customer know and rang in her order. He looked back at Josh, who saw the drink order pop up on his screen and began to pump syrups and pour milk and coffee. He set the new latte, along with the chamomile, on the counter and called each of the names. Tyler was impressed with how much Josh knew and was excited to be as efficient as him one day.

Carl walked out from the manager’s office. “Josh, can I see you for a second?”

Josh nodded and walked through the door, taking a seat in the plastic chair in front of the manager’s desk.

“How’s Tyler doing so far?” Carl asked.

“Pretty well I guess. Knows most of the order. He’s been on cash so far. Don’t want him to mess up orders,” Josh replied thoroughly.

“Sounds good,” Carl said. “And he goes to your school right? You guys are friends, right?”

Josh held back laughter.  _ Friends? _ Joshua Dun and Tyler Joseph.  _ Friends friends friends. _ Not a chance.

“I wouldn’t say that,” Josh said politely.

“What would you say then?” Carl asked.

“Nothing big. Just not my type of friend.”

“But this won’t be an issue that affects the workplace, right?”

“No, sir.”

“Good, because Tyler will be working with you most of the time.”

_ Shit _ . This was gonna be a rough summer.


	4. Semi-Awkward

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (A/N: sorry this is gonna be a short chapter :'( but I'll update again sooner.)

Tyler had been working at the coffeeshop for about two weeks now. He was beginning to become friends with most of his coworkers. He went the movies one day with Emily- the baker, Grant- a barista, and Lily- a dishwasher. Carl had given him free food once or twice, and the other managers didn't hate Tyler so that was a start. But Josh seemed kinda cold and distant. Tyler couldn't understand why. Tyler was a very likable person. Everyone at the high school loved him.

This is why, when Tyler was playing pool in Mark's basement on a Saturday night, he asked, "Hey what do you guys know about that Dun kid?"

Tyler was playing pool against Chris Salih, but Will Brett and Mark sat on the couch nearby, distracted by their phones.

"Emo kid?" Will asked.

"Yeah. Yellow hair," Tyler added.

"I dunno man. He has like 3 friends," Mark said, halfway checked into the conversation.

"Isn't he super gay or something?" Chris asked.

"What makes you think that?" Tyler questioned.

"I dunno. He acts like it. Plus his hair is yellow."

"I think I saw him with eyeliner on a few times," Mark chimed in.

Tyler was surprised with how fast this conversation turned. He pushed his thoughts aside, however, and was ready to drop the conversation altogether.

Until... "Why do you ask?" Mark said, breaking the silence.

"Oh, it's nothing. He works with me. Seems like he hates me." Tyler said, truthfully, yet holding something back.

"Probably just jealous about your girlfriend," Chris said.

"Yeah, she is pretty hot," Will added.

"Brett! That's my Jenna you're talking about," Tyler said.

"Speaking of Jenna... I saw you and her gettin freaky at that party a few weeks ago," Mark said with a smirk.

"It's nothing man. No big deal," Tyler said, trying to move past the subject.

But these teenage boys would not let it go. "So what's the story Joseph? She finally give it up that night?" Chris asked with a wink.

"No no, we were just-"

"Guys, I'm sure knowing Tyler, she gave it up way before then," Mark assured them.

"Well actually-"

"You guys know Tyler is a player," Will chimed in.

"Guys!" Tyler shouted, "Drop it!"

An awkward silence fell over the room.

"Ty, we're sorry," Mark apologized. "Didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable."

"It's alright," Tyler said reluctantly. "Let's just get back to the game."


	5. Stay in Your Lane

Okay maybe Josh didn’t  _ really _ hate Tyler. He had no real reason to except for judgements based on who he hangs out with and his social status at school. Josh hadn’t ever actually even talked to him before they started working together.

He actually seemed kinda sorta  _ maybe _ cool. He wasn’t the judgemental douchebag that Josh thought he was. But that didn’t mean they were best friends either. Josh was still nowhere near the social status of Tyler, and he still resented the social group that Tyler was in. But he didn’t seem as full of himself anymore. Maybe he just takes some warming up to.

“Good morning,” said 8:25 with a cheeky smile.

“Hey sir!” Josh said, coming back to reality. “The usual?”

“Yes, thank you.”

Josh rang in the order and took the man’s credit card. One swipe and then he handed it back.

“Hey how old are you?” the man asked in an attempt to be nonchalant.

“16,” Josh replied nervously.

“Dang,” 8:25 replied.

Did he just???? Was he hoping Josh was older? Josh felt kinda great. 8:25 thought he was cute too!

He made the English toffee latte and set it on the counter, giving a quick wink to the man before going back to the register.

Then a blonde chick came through the door.

“Good morning, welcome to Westman’s,” Josh greeted with a cheesy smile.

“Hey, can I get a medium chocolate chip latte and a cheese danish?” she asked with a half-smile.

“Sure thing,” Josh said as he put the order into the computer. “You okay?”

She looked surprised that he picked up on her distress, “It’s just… my relationship isn’t too good. Not on the same page.”

“If you wanna talk for a minute, I’ve got time,” Josh offered.

The blonde girl looked so relieved to have someone to talk to. “It’s just been a while, and I’m ready for something, but I don’t think he is. Always avoids it.”

“Maybe you guys should have a nice talk. Maybe if you guys are looking for different things, it’s not meant to be.”

“I was worried you’d say that,” she said with a frown. “Also, he seems really out of it lately. We don’t talk much anymore either.”

“He’s probably just as worried as you,” Josh suggested.

“Yeah,” Jenna perked up a bit, “I guess I’ll have to have a serious talk with him.”

She grabbed her order and waved goodbye, “Thanks for your help.”

“Have a good day,” Josh replied.

* * *

 

When Tyler came in that day, he seemed a little down. Jeez, Josh was tired of playing therapist. But he felt like it would be better for everyone if he helped cheer up Tyler. But didn’t Josh hate Tyler? Okay maybe the hate had subsided. He felt kinda sorry, because whatever was bothering Tyler made him look like he had lost a few hours of sleep.

“Good morning,” Josh offered.

“Do you hate me?” Tyler asked.

That was not how Josh expected that to go at all.  _ At all _ .

“Huh?” Josh said, caught off guard.

“I just… I thought I was a pretty cool dude, and I’m sorry for rear ending you. I don’t know if that has anything to do with it, but you’re like the only person I know that hates me. I just wanna know what I did wrong,” Tyler rambled on.

A customer walked in the door. Josh gave a “one second” gesture and attended to the customer. After he rang in the customer’s order and made the drink, he hoped Tyler would have just dropped it.

He did not want to have this awkward conversation.

But Tyler continued, “Is it something I said?”

Josh sighed, “You didn’t do anything exactly.” (He wasn’t sure where he was going with this.) “It’s just, it’s just that you and your friends look down on someone like me. So I thought you hated me.”

Wow. That took a turn. Why did Josh admit something like that?

Tyler held up a fist, “How about we just start over bro. Let’s be friends.”

Josh didn’t want this moment to go on, so he just did a fist bump and agreed to be friends. What would possibly go wrong?

Tyler  _ was _ getting good at his job, and Josh  _ was _ trusting him with more and more responsibilities. And he was even cracking a few  _ jokes _ with him. Maybe this whole friends thing would actually be cool.


	6. Ode to Sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter contains lots of SIN
> 
> Please check out my new fic titled "Realize That It's Gone"  
> It's a serious/drama/mystery:  
> http://archiveofourown.org/works/11010930/chapters/24533058
> 
> Also, sorry I haven't updated lately. I've literally had this done for forever.

Tyler was walking into work. He really loved his job. He now remembered how to make all of the drinks without Josh’s help.

“Hey Carl,” Tyler said happily, as he made his way behind the counter.

“Hey Josh. Good morning,” Carl replied with his usual Carl smile.

It was 9 am. Josh had already been working for an hour.

A customer had just walked in.

“I got it,” Tyler said, walking past Josh and Carl.

The woman wanted a small black coffee and a blueberry muffin. Tyler punched the order in, took the woman’s cash, and grabbed the muffin.

He felt a pair of eyes burning through him.

He turned around and saw Josh staring at him.

“You all good?” Tyler asked with his usual confident smile. “We still cool?”

Josh looked a bit abashed and immediately looked away. “Just waiting on that order.”

Josh poured a cup of black coffee and sat it on the counter.

The woman grabbed her coffee and was out the door. Tyler turned around and saw Josh staring at him again. This time, his eyes were glued a bit lower.

… Was Josh _staring_ at Tyler’s... ass?

Tyler decided to ignore it and walked away, checking the baked goods to see if he needed to grab any more from the back. Looks like they needed more cinnamon bagels. Tyler walked into the kitchen to see if there were any back there.

Emily was baking away.

“Hey Em,” Tyler said.

“Hey Tyler. You look a little uneasy,” she said inquisitively.

Tyler’s words came out as a whisper, “I think Josh is interested in me.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet,” Emily replied with a big smile. “I was wondering when he’d find someone.”

“What do you mean? I like girls. Plus, I thought he hated me.”

“He pretends to hate you so you don’t know about his deep love.”

“Well I have a girlfriend anyway. I’m not interested in… him.”

“Are you sure? Have you seen your hair? It’s done way too well for you to not… ya know?”

“Are you saying my hair is gay?! Wait that’s not the point. We need cinnamon bagels.”

Tyler began to walk out of the kitchen.

“Okay, I’ll make some,” Emily said as Tyler pushed his way through the double doors.

Josh had just finished ringing up a customer. Now he was using his big strong muscle-y arms to grab a muffin from the case.

_Big strong muscle-y arms?_ Why did Tyler think that? Why was Tyler staring at Josh’s arms. That was weird. They were friends. _Just friends._

_Shit!_

Josh turned around! And he definitely saw Tyler staring at him! Tyler freaked out and ran into the storage room, slamming the door behind him. Tyler needed to rid his mind of thoughts about _him_.

But _he_ opened the door and walked right into the storage room. Tyler was about to have a panic attack. He was in an enclosed space with Josh. Tyler’s breathing quickened.

“Ty, are you okay?” Josh said through his luscious lips.

_Luscious? Wtf Tyler???? Stop staring at his lips_.

Tyler definitely wasn’t though. And he definitely was not imagining how soft Josh’s lips would feel pressed against his own. Or how they would feel around his-

“Tyler?” Josh said with a lot of concern. “Are you staring at my lips?”

_Shit. He noticed_.

But he wasn’t creeped out. Josh came closer. He was too close. _Dangerously_ close. Tyler could feel Josh’s hot breath. He could smell the coffee Josh had drank this morning. English Toffee latte. Tyler loved the scent of it.

A hand went around Tyler’s waist.

“No no no. I have a girlfriend,” Tyler whimpered out.

“I won’t tell her if you won’t,” Josh said back with a seductive wink.

Tyler was straight right? In fact, Tyler was straighter than the pole your mother danced on last night!

_Really Tyler? That sounds so cliche. And so gay._

Josh was inching closer, and Tyler was letting him. He was enamored by Josh’s embrace. He looked right into Josh’s beautiful eyes and was gone. There was no turning back now. Their lips connected and the moment heightened.

There was so much passion. There was so much _heat._

It was all happening so fast. Tyler couldn’t even remember taking off his shirt but here he was shirtless and making out with Josh. Josh began to pull down his pants.

“Do you want this?” he whispered into Tyler’s ear.

_No! Say no! You’re very straight!_

But Tyler said yes and felt Josh through his underwear. He got lost in the moment and next thing he knew, he was staring at Josh’s naked body. _Touching him._ He had no idea how, but he knew exactly what he was doing. And Josh seemed to like it too.

Then, Josh was ready. He wanted Tyler’s ass. Tyler bent down and let Josh in. He felt the best he’d ever felt in his life. He closed his eyes and felt the beauty of the moment.

When his eyes opened, he was in his bedroom.

_Just a dream! A really graphic dream, but a dream!_

Tyler was so relieved. He was so so so so so relieved. And so straight. Straight guys have sex dreams about other guys time to time right? He just hoped he hadn’t-

_Shit._ His underwear were very wet.

He got out of bed, grabbed a new set of underwear, a t-shirt, and some sweatpants and headed for the shower. When he got out, he looked at the clock. It was 7:13 in the morning. It was Tuesday, which meant he wasn’t due for work until 10 am.

Tyler pulled out his phone and sent a text to Jenna.

Tyler: u up?

He waited around for a bit and almost jumped for joy when his phone buzzed.

Jenna: yeh, what’s up?

Tyler: wanna chill b4 i work?

Jenna: you can come over. my parents areny home.

Jenna: aren’t**

Tyler: k, b right over

Tyler grabbed his jacket, keys, and shoes and was out the front door.

* * *

 

When he got to Jenna’s, it was 7:35, so he could stay for a bit.

Jenna opened the front door before Tyler had even closed his car door.

“Listen Tyler, we need to have a serious talk.”

Tyler walked right up to her and looked her in the eye, “We won’t be doing much talking.”

A big grin went across Jenna’s face, but Tyler couldn’t see it for long because he kissed her right then and there. Jenna wrapped her arms around Tyler and pulled him through the doorway. Tyler shut the door behind them and wrapped his arms around Jenna just as tightly.

She broke the kissing for a moment.

“Do you have-?” she began.

But Tyler interrupted her and pulled one out from his pocket before she finished her sentence. She took him by the hand and brought him up the stairs, taking him straight toward her room.

As they were kissing, Josh came into Tyler’s head. Tyler tensed up.

“What’s wrong baby?” Jenna asked through the kissing.

“Just nervous,” Tyler replied. “First time.”

Jenna pulled off his shirt and began to make new marks on his chest. He was making her happy. He was showing her that he loved her. And what’s-his-face wasn’t even on his mind anymore.

_Shit!_ Now he was thinking about Josh again, the vivid images of his dream coming back to him. Jenna could feel him getting hard.

“Baby, I’ll take care of you,” she whispered.

She pulled down his sweatpants and felt him through his underwear. This was it. The big moment. She pulled down his underwear and watched his schlong bounce out. He felt her hands on his bare skin. This was the first time anyone else had ever touched him like that. This was such a brand new feeling. It felt so good. Why hadn’t he given in before.

Then Josh came back to his mind.

He couldn’t keep this up much longer.

“Jenna?” Tyler said.

“Hm Ty?” she answered.

“We gotta make this quick, I gotta get to work,” Tyler lied.

Jenna stroked Tyler in her hands and just admired seeing him like this for the first time ever.

It wasn’t long before…

“Ooh baby,” Jenna said, surprised.

“Sorry Jenna,” Tyler said, embarrassed. “I couldn’t hold it longer.”

Jenna got up and grabbed some tissues to clean up the mess.

“It’s okay Ty. It’ll be better next time,” Jenna said.

“Hey, so I better get going,” Tyler said, putting back on his clothes.

“Okay baby, but we really need to talk soon. Before I go on my trip.”

“About what babe?”

“About where this is going. This came out of nowhere. Normally I’m the one who wants to do this sort of thing.”

“I’m just nervous,” Tyler stated. “I’m worried I won’t do it right.”

“I’m sure you will Ty! Now don’t be late to work,” she said with a big smile.


	7. Tear My Heart Apart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler says some heart breaking things.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, warning: there is some slightly homophobic stuff said in this chapter.  
> Also, sorry, I definitely did not post as soon as I wanted to. I just graduated high school and also attended 13 graduation parties this weekend.  
> Well anyway, enjoy the chapter. I'm writing more right after I post this.

Wow the summer was going by fast. That blonde girl had come in a few days later to say that things were looking up and she thought that her and her boyfriend were on the same page. Josh was happy for her. He gave her a coffee on the house.

She came in every few days and ordered the same thing and wasted a few minutes talking to Josh every time she came in. Josh had made a new friend. Peter joked that he didn’t believe she was real. He said he thought Josh made her up so that Peter wouldn’t be his only friend. But what he _really_ couldn’t believe was that Josh was being friendly with Tyler freaking Joseph. Josh had “hated” Tyler for a long time, and would bitch about him to Peter all the time. So of course Peter was surprised that their friendship had formed.

Things were looking up. Josh would go into his senior year happier and with more friends. I mean sure he didn’t even know blonde girl’s name, and there had been a few awkward moments between him and Tyler, but that was nothing. Josh was used to awkward moments.

Sometimes, in the middle of the afternoon when there were no customers in the coffeeshop, Josh would try to strike up a conversation with Tyler and Tyler would say something about his hair, or the storage room, or cinnamon bagels. But Josh just ignored this and appreciated the fact that he was able to bury his hate.

Now it was halfway through the summer and Josh could never even dream of hating Tyler. They listened to the same kind of music and watched the same TV shows. You would never guess that from the way they act in high school. Or who they associate with.

Nonetheless, it was a Friday morning and Josh was going to invite Tyler over that night so they could hang out. They had actually not met up outside of work, despite being friends. Josh thought if he made the first move, things would just keep rolling from there.

 _No, not like that._ Tyler wasn’t really Josh’s type.

“Hey Tyler, how’s it going,” Josh asked with a big smile.

“Pretty good,” Tyler replied.

“So I was thinking,” Josh started, “It would be cool if you came over to my place tonight. We could order a pizza and watch Captain America Civil War. I know you really like that one.”

Tyler looked a little worried.

“You okay Tyler?”

“Oh sorry sorry, yeah I guess that’d be cool,” Tyler said awkwardly.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a bit.

“Oh,” Tyler began, “I um… I don’t have your address.”

“Oh okay,” Josh said pulling out his phone, “I’ll text it to you.”

Tyler felt his phone buzz in his pocket, “Thanks Josh.”

“Yeah so you can come over at like 6,” Josh said excitedly, “And you can sleepover if you want.”

Tyler seemed kinda out of it, “Yeah, sounds cool.”

Josh ignored it. Tyler probably didn’t get much sleep last night and is really tired.

* * *

 

Tyler looked in the mirror. Black skinny jeans and a yellow hoodie? Was that good enough? Why should he even care? He looked at his hair. _Too perfect,_ he thought and took his hands to his hair, messing it up a little.

He checked his phone. Nothing from Jenna. She was out in New York for the rest of the summer, doing a program at NYU. That’s where she really wanted to go. She asked Tyler if he applied too, but he didn’t really wanna go out of state. He wasn’t sure if he even wanted to go to college at all.

It was 5:50. He should probably get going. Josh would be waiting.

* * *

 

Tyler pulled up at 6:03 pm. Not that Josh was staring at the clock or anything… Okay maybe he was, but that was just because he didn’t believe Tyler would actually show up. He seemed kinda awkward about coming over in the first place.

Josh went back to casually sitting on the couch and watching TV, so it wouldn’t look like he was waiting around. When Tyler rang the doorbell, Josh waited a few seconds before getting up and _slowly walking_ towards the door. He didn’t wanna scare away Tyler because of how excited he was.

“Hey Tyler,” Josh said as he opened the door and noticed that Tyler had a duffel bag around his shoulder.

“Hey Josh, thanks for inviting me over,” Tyler said in a quiet voice.

“I see you decided to sleep over.”

“Oh yeah,” Tyler said looking down at his bag, “My mom said I should.”

 _Mom. His MOM._ _Did he even wanna be here? Did he even care?????_

Josh pushed his thoughts aside, “Come on in Ty.”

_Ty? Why would he say that????_

Tyler walked in and took his shoes off. He sat his duffel bag by the door and took a seat on the couch. Josh followed him.

“Are you hungry?” Josh asked.

“Yeah, sure man,” Tyler said not really meeting Josh’s eyes.

“What kind of pizza do you like?”

“Barbecue chicken but with-”

“Pineapples?!” Josh shouted.

“Yeah man,” Tyler said, getting excited, “It’s so underrated.”

“I thought I was the only one who thought that!”

“Nah man! I got you.”

* * *

 

So they ordered a large barbecue chicken pizza with pineapples and a two liter of mountain dew. While they waited for the pizza delivery person to show up, they started up the Wii to play Mario Kart. Josh was dominating. Tyler was both amazed and annoyed at how good Josh was, especially since he claimed he hadn’t played in about 2 years.

“How are you dominating in this, Josh?” Tyler questioned, half annoyed.

Josh chuckled and released a banana, which made Tyler fall off of Rainbow Road and pushed him back to 8th place.

“Fuck you Josh!” Tyler shouted.

“Woah, Tyler. Chill,” Josh said, pretending to be hurt.

There was tension filled silence for a few minutes as Tyler and Josh completed the course. The silence ended when Josh crossed the finish line in 1st place. Tyler threw his controller in frustration.

“Rainbow Road was always gay anyway!” Tyler said in frustration.

An awkward silence fell across the room. _Shit! Why had he said that. That was so stupid and insensitive of him._

“Josh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-”

“Then what did you mean?” Josh said sharply.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to offend you. I’ve never had a gay friend before and I’ve never thought about how painful it is to use that word like that.”

“Tyler, I’m not gay.”

There was an awkward silence.

Tyler broke the silence. “Wow, I just totally assumed based on what people say and how you act and-”

“What people say?” Josh asked. “People talk about me?”

“No, it’s nothing, really. It’s not, there’s not… everything is fine.”

“Whatever,” Josh said, pushing aside that mess of a subject. “I am bi, but I don’t appreciate the assumptions. Or what you said either.”

There was yet _more_ awkward silence.

“So,” Tyler started, “how did you like, know?”

“I don’t know, it’s just something you kinda feel. At some point, I realized that I felt the same about some boys as I did about girls I had liked.”

“Ah okay…. Have you ever, like… ya know?”

Josh knew what Tyler was hinting at but he wanted the damn straight fuckboy to have to say the words himself.

“You’re going to be more specific than that Tyler,” Josh said with a smirk.

“Have you ever, like, done anything with a guy?” Tyler asked awkwardly.

“Just kissing and a little touching,” Josh replied. “Nothing serious.”

“You’re not like looking for a boyfriend or…. Or I guess a girlfriend too? Well not too! Like one of the choices-”

“No. I don’t believe in love. Or it least, I don’t believe love is for me,” Josh admitted.

“Aw, Josh. I think there’s someone out there for you, guy or girl, that will love you unconditionally. I mean, you’re a great guy, and you’ve got the looks too.”

Josh was _totally_ not hoping that there was some extra meaning in Tyler’s words. Remember, Tyler just isn’t Josh’s type. But I mean, he was pretty hot, and it seemed like he had a good heart. And what he was saying was pretty heartfelt.

_Shit! Josh, you cannot do this. Stop it right now._

“I mean look at me and Jenna. We found each other,” Tyler continued.

_Jenna? Who is Jenna? Does Tyler have a girlfriend?_

“Jenna?” Josh accidentally asks aloud.

“Oh yeah, she’s my wonderful girlfriend,” Tyler says, pulling out his phone. “She’s great. I’m sure you guys would be great friends.”

Tyler pulled up a picture of Jenna. _HOLY SHITTITY SHIT! Jenna equals boyfriend troubles girl!_

Just then the doorbell rang. The pizza must be here.


	8. Fake You Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josh goes to his first party ever and really enjoys the lemonade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I literally just posted a little over 12 hours ago, but I'm writing like crazy right now. I'm already two chapters ahead, so I wanted to post.  
> Trigger warning: homophobic slurs

Yes, Tyler had spent the night over at Tyler’s house, and they had watched Civil War and it was sick and Josh should be very happy. But he was not. He had let himself develop a crush on Tyler who had a _wonderful_ girlfriend who Josh had adored.

Josh was mad at himself for thinking of Tyler that way for even a second. Tyler was his straight fuckboy friend who was dating Jenna! Nothing more. So Josh wasn’t supposed to think that watching Tyler sleep was cute or that the way he smiles when he talked about something he really liked gave him butterflies.

All of this made the next week very awkward.

Josh hated work now. He had to see Tyler for long periods of time and act like nothing was wrong. But something was very wrong. His stupid little feelings could destroy two friendships: one with Jenna, and one with Tyler.

Josh was right. Love was not for him. He always liked the wrong people.

 _Liked???_ _Whoa, Josh chill! This is just a small crush! No one said anything about_ liking _him._

I mean, Josh still didn’t even know much about Tyler. Like if he liked cuddling or how he feels about Taco Bell or or or…. Wow Josh was really working himself up about a fucking boy. _About fucking a boy_. Wow, it’s amazing how switching around words can completely change the meaning.

All that aside, Tyler was still part of a pretty douchey friend group that was probably super homophobic, so even if Jenna was out of the picture and Tyler was capable of liking Josh, it would never work out. Josh had to accept this reality and move on with his life. He would not let this be anything more than a little crush.

Josh was currently sitting in Westman’s after a long shift, waiting for Peter to show up. They were gonna sit and drink coffee and chat. It had been a long week. Peter would come in sometimes after long shifts to chill with Josh, so most of the other staff came to know and love Peter also.

Speaking of the devil, there he was walking through the door. Josh stood up and gave him a hug as Peter got over to the table Josh was sitting in. It was 5:35 pm, the dry time for customer traffic at Westman’s. Josh and Peter were the only “customers” in there.

Since Josh had known Peter was coming, he had made them each an English Toffee latte with extra whip on the top.

“Hey Josh,” Peter began, “How was work today?”

Josh sighed, “Ugh it was very long and tiring.”

Josh had been on his feet from 8 am to 5:30 pm, excluding the two 30 minute breaks he had to take. Today had been really busy too. He had barely gotten to chat with any of his coworkers, aside from being invited to some party by none other than _Tyler Fuckboy Joseph_. Josh hated parties. He didn’t wanna be around drinking teenagers and all the popular people who would make fun of his yellow hair.

“So you got any plans tomorrow night?” Peter asked.

“What about tonight?” Josh asked back, trying to avoid a stupid party.

“I can’t man, sorry. My cousins are coming over and I’ve got to entertain them.”

“Dang. Yeah tomorrow would work. What would you wanna do?” Josh questioned.

“Wanna go putt putting?” Peter said with a big smile.

“Sure,” Josh responded. “I can drive.”

Emily came out of the kitchen holding a plate with two muffins on it.

“Hey boys,” she said in her sweet voice. “We’re working on some new raspberry cheesecake muffins. Wanna give them a try?”

The smell of the muffins made its way to Josh’s nose. “Of course!” he shouted, a little too excitedly.

Emily set down the plate and stood, waiting for the boys to try them. Josh took a big bite out of his muffin and moaned, with a sound that seemed a little too sexual, showing his love for the muffin. Peter took a bite of his muffin and gave a thumbs up, while holding a giant, cheeky grin.

When Josh finished chewing he said, “Em, these muffins are great. I will order 7000 when they’re for sale.”

“I could tell you really liked it,” Emily said with a wink.

Peter busted out laughing.

“It was an accident guys,” Josh said as his face turned red.

“It’s fine Joshua,” Emily said. “Well, I’ll go tell Carl that you two like them.”

Emily walked into the manager’s office.

Peter took his last sip of coffee and looked at his watch. “Well I better head back home. My cousins will be here soon.”

Josh stood up, gave Peter a hug, and cleaned up their dishes. He said bye to his workmates and headed to his car.

* * *

 

It was 8:30 pm on a Friday night and Josh was sitting alone on his bed. He could go to a party if he wanted. But then what if he walked in and saw Tyler making out with his girlfriend and then he got super jealous and did something super stupid. Or what if he walked in and knew no one and they all made fun of him because he has yellow hair and wears all black and watches HGTV.

Or what if he had fun. He would be completely sober so he would have the upper hand. All the stupid people from his school would be acting stupider than usual because they would be under the influence. Well at least Josh thought so. He had never been to a party, so he couldn’t be sure that there was actually alcohol at them.

Either way, he decided to call an uber to Mark Eshleman’s house. He would have driven himself but he didn’t want to worry about parking, or about some drunk idiot doing anything to his car.

Josh told his parents he was going to hang out with Peter and that he would text them if he was getting home late. He waited outside for his ride. When the man, named Steven, arrived, Josh got in the car and told the driver where to go.

As they approached the house, Josh was already feeling some regret. He could hear the music from outside and saw some shirtless guying running around outside. Yet, he got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Mark answered and said he was surprised to see Josh there, and awkwardly invited him in.

He directed Josh in, and pointed him to all of the wonderful drinks. Josh opted for the giant container of lemonade, not wanting to be even so much as buzzed. And _damn_ it was some good lemonade. Pretty tart. Josh refilled his cup.

He was kind of lonely at the moment. He just stood awkwardly in the kitchen. Then he noticed a plate of tortilla chips and a bowl of salsa. He took a few chips and dipped them in salsa, enjoying the typical party food.

Some drunken teenagers dashed by him, almost knocking him over.

Josh was feeling very out of place. He chugged some more lemonade and filled his cup for the third time. Maybe he should leave the kitchen and actually try to socialize. He walked out into the family room, which was crowded with teenagers.

He saw some girl from his math class the past year and approached her. She didn’t seem to be super wild so he started a conversation with her. She was also here to people watch, asking him if he saw shirtless guy running around outside.

“So, how many parties have you been to?” Josh asks, hoping he is not the most innocent here.

“This is my fifth this summer. How about you?” she asks back.

“This is my third,” Josh lies, not wanting to seem innocent.

“Well if it’s your third, you should remember to slow down on the lemonade,” she said, as he chugged the rest of his cup.

“What? It’s just lemonade, right?” Josh asked, feeling kind of doubtful by her facial expression.

“They always get to it. I think they spiked it about an hour ago,” she replied. “You can usually smell it.”

Josh smelled the inside of his cup. _Shit_. It was very strong.

“I’m an idiot,” Josh said, putting his palm on his face.

“It’s fine,” math girl replied, “It was just one cup.”

Worry crept across Josh’s face. “Um, this is my third cup.”

“Well good luck to you, Josh,” math girl replied with a laugh. “If you do anything stupid, I’ll be watching.”

Just then, Josh felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around and saw Tyler with a huge smile on his face.

“Josh!” he shouted. “You made it!”

Josh could smell the alcohol on Tyler’s breath. He _really_ should have stayed home.

“Hey Tyler,” Josh said. “Hey look, I think I’m about to head out-”

“No no no no no,” Tyler said, stumbling on his words. “H-hey, let’s go upstairs and talk.”

Tyler grabbed Josh’s arm and pulled him towards the staircase. Josh turned around to see math girl give him a wink. Maybe he should figure out her name.

Tyler practically dragged Josh up the staircase and into the first room he saw.

“How do you like the party?” Tyler asked, a little too loudly.

“It’s not really my scene man,” Josh said honestly. “I think I’m gonna head out soon, I just need to call an uber home.”

“No,” Tyler said, putting one finger on Josh’s lips, making a “shh” gesture.

There was silence for an awkward moment.

“Look, J-Josh,” Tyler stuttered. “I’ll be right back, I really gotta pee. You stay right here mister.”

* * *

 

Tyler ran downstairs and went to the bathroom furthest away from the room he had been in. He was a little disoriented and got a little lost. When he finished taking a leak, he found himself back in the kitchen, forgetting what he was doing. He grabbed another beer and chugged it.

Some girl walked up to him. _Oh, that was the girl Josh was talking to earlier!_

“Tyler?” she said hesitantly. “Where’s Josh?”

_That’s right! Josh! Upstairs. Maybe he had asked Tyler to go downstairs to grab him something to drink._

Tyler filled a solo cup with some lemonade and grabbed another beer.

“H-he’s upstairs,” Tyler replied. “He wanted a drink.”

The girl looked confused, but not confused enough to stop Tyler as he headed for the staircase again.

“Josh,” Tyler said, entering the room with the drinks. “I got you some lemonade.”

Josh grabbed the drinks out of Tyler’s hands and set them down.

“Ty, look, I don’t think you’re okay. And I won’t be in a few minutes.” Josh said through his _lucious lips._

 _Wait, that sounded really familiar._ _Had Tyler thought that before?_

Tyler couldn’t focus. He just kept staring at Tyler’s lips as they kept moving, probably saying something. Like how he thinks Tyler should go to bed or something.

“Tyler?” Josh said with a lot of concern. “Are you staring at my lips?”

 _Shit. He noticed_.

Tyler thought fast and did the thing he thought made most sense. However, if he was sober, he would realize how much sense it _didn’t_ make.

Tyler rushed forward and crashed his lips onto Josh’s, _finally_ feeling their warmth. Josh kissed back too, and it felt good. _Why hadn’t Tyler done this before?_

“Hey, Ty, are you in here?” came a voice from the hallway.

In a split second, Mark was in the room and everything was very wrong. Tyler remembered a few things. First, Jenna Black. Second, he was _totally_ straight. Third, JENNA BLACK.

Tyler shoved Josh off of him and shouted, “Get off of me, you fag!”

Tears formed in Josh’s eyes.

 _Shit. What had Tyler just_ done.

Mark’s face was full of surprise and confusion and wonder.

Josh ran out of the room. Tyler had _really_ done it. He was sure there would be a lot of backlash for this.

“Wow, that boy was really into you,” Mark finally said.

Tyler had a choice right now. He could be truthful and admit that he had initiated the kiss. Admit that he had wanted to kiss Josh. Be opened up to the world about something he himself was not quite sure about. Possibly be dumped by Jenna. Maybe lose some friends. Or, he could be fake and uphold his lie that Josh had kissed him. He could lose Josh’s genuine friendship, and possibly all of his work friends, who _loved_ Josh.

Tyler quickly made his choice, and picked his battles.

“Yeah, I don’t even know what happened. Doesn’t he know I’m not _gay_?”

The words felt terrible coming out of Tyler’s mouth, but he had a reputation to keep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry guys, but this was always the plan from the beginning. Expect another update soon.


	9. Set My Soul on Fire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josh needs to be picked up after that terrible fall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for Chapter 8, frens. There can't be a resolution without a conflict. Drama is in the air.  
> Trigger warning: homophobic language

Josh hated his life so much. He should have never left his house. He should have stayed home and not gone to the party.

He tracked through every single one of his mistakes.

One: Leaving his house. Two: Drinking all the lemonade. Three: Being alone with Tyler. Four: Letting a drunk Tyler kiss him. Five: Running out of the room and leaving without calling an uber home.

Josh was now on the side of the road, walking towards his house. What would his parents say when he walked in the front door, after 10 pm, pretty buzzed, the smell of alcohol strong on his breath.

Josh was coming up to a main road. He walked along the street-lit path, ignoring his surroundings. He stayed deep in thought. He wished that fuckboy had never rear ended him and gotten him into this mess in the first place.

If Tyler wasn’t a stupid driver, Josh would have never had to work with Tyler. Then Josh would’ve never gotten such a stupid crush on Tyler and wouldn’t feel so shitty for being friends with Jenna and liking Tyler. Tyler and Josh would’ve never hung out and Tyler would have never invited Josh to that stupid party.

But that damn kiss was good. It was his first kiss.

Yeah Josh had lied to Tyler. He had never kissed a boy, or a girl for that matter. He had never done anything with anyone. He just wanted to sound cooler because he was sure Tyler had gone all the way with at least 5 girls by now.

He and Jenna had definitely made it that far by now. Tyler was with Jenna. He didn’t want Josh. Well, even if he did, he would never admit it because he’s afraid of what his stupid douchey friends would think. Like Mark.

A car stopped beside Josh, stopping his train of thought.

The window rolled down and a familiar face came into view.

“Joshua?” Emily’s sweet voice asked.

“Yeah,” Josh replied through tears.

“Get in,” Emily said, sounding worried.

Emily said that if Josh wanted to talk about exactly what had happened, he could, but not to feel pressure. She could tell he had had some drinks, and assured him that she would not judge him for that.

“I’m never drinking again,” Josh began.

Josh decided it would help him feel better if he did let out his feelings, so he began from the beginning, explaining to Emily the mess he had gotten himself into.

“Tyler sounds like a douche,” she said when Josh was done explaining.

“Yeah, I think so too,” Josh replied.

“But Josh, never feel bad for being who you are,” Emily said, trying to make Josh feel better.

Josh knew exactly what she was talking about. He had never really told her that he was bi, but now she basically knew and she was very fine with it. She was even trying to help him.

“Thanks Em,” Josh said.

Emily insisted that Josh come to her house and sleep off his terrible night there. Josh reluctantly texted his parents that he was spending the night at Peter’s house, to which they replied “okay :)”.

Soon, they were at Emily’s house. The walked through the garage and into the kitchen. Emily told him to wait right there and went upstairs to grab him something to sleep with.

Just then, a tall man with dark hair and a nice beard walked in the room.

“Hey,” Josh said confusedly.

“Hello,” the man said, equally confused.

They stood there awkwardly in silence until Emily came back downstairs.

“Oh hey, Josh, this is my husband,” Emily said with a smile.

 _Husband?_ How old was Emily anyway?

Josh made small talk while Emily turned her living room couch into a bed for Josh. Wow he was really tired. Finally, his sleeping place was ready, and he plopped himself down.

“Goodnight, Josh,” Emily said, walking away.

But then she walked right back, “Oh do you work tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” Josh replied. “At 1.”

“Okay. I’ll have to get you back home before then.”

Then Emily was off to her upstairs area, probably to go to bed with her husband.

Josh was so lucky she had found him at the side of the road. He couldn’t face his parents right now, and he also really wanted to be alone to think about all that had just happened.

* * *

 

Josh had woken up to a large breakfast cooked for him. Emily had made eggs, bacon, muffins, hash browns, cheesy potatoes, toast, sausage, and pancakes. Cooking was no joke to her. That must be why she’s almost always at Westman’s, baking.

Josh ate at the small kitchen table with Emily and her husband, noticing that Emily had only put the non meat items on her plate. Maybe she was a vegetarian.

Josh made awkward small talk with the couple as he ate breakfast with them.

They were a sweet couple, it seemed. Josh was guessing they were in their mid 20s, and married for 2, 3 years tops, but together for maybe 5. Apparently they met in high school and had been friends before they got together.

Josh wishes he could be in a relationship like that. But love just isn’t for him.

When they were done eating, Emily’s husband got to work on cleaning the kitchen and Emily was ready to drive Josh home. Josh thanked Emily for everything, and then she gave him his phone number for if he ever needed anything.

Josh’s parents weren’t home when he got home. They sent him a text that they would be going to Home Depot. But Josh’s siblings were home, each of them being disconnected and being alone in their own rooms.

So Josh got to be alone in his thoughts again for a bit before he would have to go to work with _Fuckboy Joseph_. Josh hated Tyler again. For all the same hollow reasons he hated him for before, but now for what had happened at the party the night before. Josh couldn’t believe that Tyler would do something like that to him. He trusted Tyler. But not anymore… Josh felt kind of terrible. Like his soul had been set on fire.

But Josh didn’t want to be alone with his thoughts anymore. He decided to give Peter a call. He grabbed his phone from his pocket and clicked on Peter’s contact.

“Hello?” Peter answered on the second ring.

“Peter, hey,” Josh said awkwardly. “I really need to talk to you right now.”

“Sure thing Josh.”

And Josh told Peter a story. A story about how he had finally found out who blonde coffee girl was, about how he had developed a crush on Tyler, and then he got to the part where he made mistakes.

“Peter, you have to promise not to get mad at me for this part, okay?” Josh said, with lots of worry in his voice.

“Josh, I won’t,” Peter promised. “What happened?”

“So Tyler had invited me to a party last night,” Josh began, “and you couldn’t hang out, so it was like nine at night, so I decided to give it a try.”

Josh paused for a minute. Taking a deep breath to prepare himself to talk about where it all went wrong for the second time.

“So I’m at this party, and I accidentally get a little buzzed… Someone spiked the lemonade. But then Tyler comes out of nowhere and he’s drunk off his ass, and he pulls me upstairs.” Josh begins to breath heavily and his voice gets weak.

“Josh,” Peter says in a calm voice, “it’s okay if you can’t talk about it right now.”

But Josh continues, calming his voice a bit. “So we’re just sitting there and he is staring at my lips. And then I call him out on it and all of the sudden, he lunges forward and kisses the heck out of me. And it was great.”

Josh pauses at this wonderful instant, wishing this was how it ended, and not any other way. But that’s not how it ended, and Josh can’t change the past.

“But,” Josh picks back up, “then Mark comes in, and Tyler freaks out, so he pushes me and says to get the hell away from him… and calls me… a fag.”

“J-Josh,” Peter stutters out, “just know that I am not mad at you at all. It’s not your fault that Tyler Joseph is a horrible douchebag.”

“Thanks Peter, that-”

“But! I am mad as fuck at Tyler Joseph and I will neuter him for fucking with my best friend!”

“Peter. You don’t have to,” Josh says timidly. “I hate his fucking guts, but no one will believe the true story. And I don’t want it getting out.”

Just then, Josh’s phone buzzed. He took it off his ear to see a text from a number he didn’t have saved.

_I have a girlfriend. Wanna kiss me too ;)_

“Josh?” Peter said loudly. “Josh? Can you hear me?”

Josh put the phone back on his ear. “Peter, neuter the fuck out of him. See you tonight.”

Josh really felt like his soul had been set on fire now.


	10. Sometimes You Gotta Bleed To Know

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler's rough morning and afternoon after the party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly not sure if this is good or not, but I need to post it before I edit it so much that it's not the same.  
> Happy reading!!!

Tyler had woken up on the couch of Mark’s house with a pounding headache. There was also a bucket next to him full of puke. He was sure it was his.

Tyler found his phone in his pocket and checked the time.

_Shit. It was 9:45 am._

Tyler was already late to work. Maybe Josh was there and he could tell Carl that he’d be late. _Shit. Things were not okay with Josh._ He had hurt Josh terribly. He had kissed him and then called him a very very bad word and then let him run away. And Mark was there. Mark was a crazy gossip. There was no way that this would stay quiet.

Tyler hated himself so much. Why had he let himself drink so much and ruin his friendship. He knows he’s made some terrible decisions in the past 24 hours. Like inviting Josh to the party in the first place. Josh isn’t a party person. Then he had a lot to drink. He had known he was supposed to work the next morning, but he still partied hard. Then he saw Josh and had taken him upstairs.

Why couldn’t he have just let Josh go home like he was planning too. But to top it all off, he had left Josh alone for a few minutes. He wishes he had completely forgotten and then maybe Josh would have just left and maybe would have been a little annoyed with him for ditching him. But he went back.

And he fucking _kissed_ Josh. And he loved the 2.7 seconds that it had lasted.

And that was an issue. Tyler Robert Joseph was very very straight and was dating a _girl_ named Jenna Black. He should not be drunk at a party kissing anyone, especially not a _boy_ , especially not Josh Dun.

But it was a good kiss and he couldn’t deny it. Maybe it was the drunkenness, or the heat of the moment. It had to be. There was no way Tyler wasn’t straight.

Either way, it had happened and Tyler had pushed Josh away.

Tyler reluctantly got up and called an uber home. He would be going to work hungover.

* * *

 

He had gone home and quickly changed and was now at work. Josh wasn’t here. Maybe he didn’t work today, or maybe he was avoiding Tyler. Tyler had been the worst friend ever.

Mimi was the manager today. She was kind of annoying and mean. Tyler found out there was some guy running the kitchen right now. Someone he had never met. Tyler was supposed to be the second barista in for the day. He had come in at 10:24. Almost an hour late.

“Tyrell,” Mimi said, screwing up his name for the hundredth time. “You are late.”

Tyler knew he was late, but he didn’t feel like being a smartass to Mimi was a good idea.

“I’m sorry Mimi. It won’t happen again,” he offered instead.

“Better not,” she said, walking to the back.

Grant was the other barista on the clock. He had been working here for 5 months, but he was still kinda slow. Mimi had been up there working with him to keep business going smoothly.

“I’ll take register,” Tyler offered.

Grant gave a nod and went to tidying some of the drink ingredients on the counter.

Before he knew it, the morning rush was over, and it was the middle of the twelfth hour of the day. Business was usually calm and trickly at this point on a Saturday, picking back up around 2:30 or 3.

Emily walked through the front door, apron tied on and ready to go.

She skipped her usual smiley introductions and went straight to the kitchen to clock in. A moment later, the other baker from earlier was out of the kitchen and into the break room to grab his things and go. He said bye to the two baristas and was out of the door.

Grant walked up to Tyler. “Hey, we need chocolate chip muffins. I’m gonna go tell Emily.”

With that, he was in the kitchen and Tyler was alone at the front.

After a moment of nothingness, a customer walked through the door. A man in his mid 20s who looked like someone who drinks his coffee black.

“Can I get a coffee, black,” the man said as he approached the counter.

What do you know? Josh was right.

“Anything else for you sir?”

“Yeah, a skinny vanilla chai latte,” he added.

Tyler rang in the order and was about to make it when Grant walked out of the kitchen.

“Emily needs to see you,” Grant said, looking down.

Tyler handed Grant the order receipt so he could start making the drinks while Tyler talked to Emily.

“Hey Em,” Tyler said as he walked into the kitchen.

“What the fuck Tyler?” Emily asked sharply.

Tyler was very confused. “What?”

“What the actual _fuck_ , Tyler? How could you do that to Josh?!”

 _Josh_. Tyler knew where this was going now.

“Emily, it’s not what it seems like. It’s just-”

“Tyler, you played with that boy’s feelings and then called him a name and let him run away crying. That’s not okay. If you really like him, you would have never done that!”

“Woah! Who ever said anything about liking him? I’m not even _gay,_ okay?”

“Then why did you kiss him?”

“Because I was… I was wasted.”

“Don’t you lie to me Tyler.”

“Because I wanted to see what it was like… But I’m with Jenna, and I don’t wanna be like that with Josh. What would all of my friends think?”

Emily walked closer to Tyler and looked sweetly into his eyes. She gently stroked his cheek and looked like she was about to give him some very encouraging advice. Her hand lifted and she slapped his face as hard as she could. Tyler winced. Emily was wearing a pointy diamond ring on her finger.

“Douche!” she shouted as she walked over to the oven.

Tyler took that as his cue to leave the kitchen. He had been in there for about 2 minutes, yet Grant was still struggling to make the two drinks for the mid 20s customer. Tyler finished off the second drink and handed it to the man who was waiting.

“She must have been really mad,” he said as he took his coffee and walked out the door.

Tyler went to the break room and looked in the mirror. His left cheek was very red. Emily had slapped him pretty hard. A tiny bit of blood began to drip from his cheek.

He grabbed a tissue from the box in the room and began to wipe his face. He then went into the bathroom and finished cleaning up his red face. Here was the first bit of backlash. And the first work friend to turn against Tyler.

It was now 12:57 and Tyler was cleaned up and back at the front of the cafe. Josh walked through the double doors. Once he saw that there was no customers, he flicked his middle finger up at Tyler and walked into the kitchen to clock in.

He walked to the back, talked to Mimi, and came back to the front in a minute.

“Grant, Mimi says you can clock off now,” he says.

The rest of the time Tyler was on the clock, Josh gave him the cold shoulder. He would not talk to him at all. A few times, he went into the kitchen and stayed in there for 10 minutes at a time, no doubt talking to Emily about how terrible Tyler was.

Tyler hated himself for what he had done.

He wanted more than anything to make everything all better and be friends with Josh again. Especially since Josh was the only one Tyler could trust to talk about confusing things with. Tyler was less and less convinced that he was straight and he was scared and he felt like he had a lot of people against him.

Mimi came up to the front around 3 to tell “Tyward” to clock off. The night shift barista was coming in to replace him.

Tyler really needed to talk to Josh. To apologize for what he had done. He wanted to talk to Tyler but the line was getting long, and he and the other barista were scrambling to make drinks and ring up customers. So Tyler clocked out and stepped out of Westman’s unnoticed.

He sat in his car, his fixed car, and started from the beginning. Where had it all gone wrong? Probably when he became friends with Josh. Tyler had ruined Josh’s life.

He pulled out his phone and began typing. He really wanted to apologize to Josh.


	11. The Loser Hides Behind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some things escalate quickly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! It's been a LOOONG time since my last update. I'd like to say that I will update sooner but I'm not sure how motivated I'll be :((((

Josh had finally gotten off work and it was time to pick up Peter. He said a quick goodbye to Emily before he left, hugging her and thanking her for the night before, and then was off to his car. The night shift barista could handle the cafe by himself now.

Josh went into his trunk and grabbed his change of clothes, not wanting to be out and about in his Westman’s uniform. He hopped into the backseat and changed into a t shirt and gym shorts. Then he checked his phone.

(3) messages from unknown numbers

(1) message from Tyler

(1) message from Peter

Josh began with the unknowns. Knowing exactly what to expect.

_-Tyler already has a bitch. Back off._

_-Stop making moves on popular guys. They wouldn’t go for a_ guy _like you_

But the third one surprised him.

- _Hey, it’s Natalie from math class. I heard about what happened and it seems like you might need a friend right now. Text me if you need to talk._

Natalie! That’s her name! Josh sent a quick reply that he thinks he’ll be okay and that he’ll chat with her tomorrow. Josh saved her contact as “Natalie (Math Girl)” and sat with 2 remaining texts. He decided to save Peter’s for last, because it would probably leave him in a better mood than Tyler’s.

_Josh, look I’m very sorry. I really shouldn’t have kissed you and I definitely shouldn’t have played it off as all you. I really hope you will stop ignoring me so that we can talk about this. So that we can be friends again. Josh, you are one of the most genuine friends I’ve had, and I can tell you stuff that I can’t really say to all of my other friends. I really made a terrible mistake by reacting like that when Mark came into the room. I wanna make it all better, but I don’t know how. I think the best way to do that is for us to talk and be friends again. I’m really really sorry. I was really worried about what Jenna and Mark would say and I made a stupid split second decision. It was all my fault. I really hope we can work this out. Please answer?_

But Josh left him on read.

The text from Peter just said to call him when he got off work, so Josh called Peter. Peter told him that he was all ready to go, so Josh began to drive over to Peter’s house to pick him up.

* * *

 

Josh hadn’t gone putt putting in almost a year, and he didn’t remember being so good at it, as he was with many other games and activities. Peter was a little annoyed with how well Josh was doing.

“What’s the score again?” Peter asked for the seventeenth time.

“7 to 25,” Josh replied quickly before he attempted the next hole.

“Fuck, Josh, you’re too good at this game.”

A nearby parent covered her young son’s ears and began walked away from the teens, probably mumbling something about how the youth are a lot worse than her generation had been.

“Either that, or you’re shit,” Josh countered with a smirk.

“I am _not!_ ” Peter shouted, clearly annoyed.

“You’re cute when you’re losing,” Josh laughed.

Peter looked ticked _off_. Josh had done his job.

“Hey, how about we call it quits and grab some pizza,” Josh suggested.

“Sure,” Peter said, hanging his head from his loss.

Josh and Peter put their putt putt gear away and headed to Josh’s car.

* * *

 

Josh and Peter had ordered two medium pizzas and were now at Peter’s house, in his basement, demolishing them. Peter wasn’t talking much, since he was destroyed in putt putt.

“Petey,” Josh said goofily to try to cheer up his friend, “Please don’t pout. Santa can see you.”

A quick smile flashed across Peter’s face but then disappeared as he tried to keep himself from laughing. Josh knew what he had to do.

“Ohhhhhhh,” Josh began to sing, “You better watch out!”

Josh could tell Peter was trying harder not to laugh.

“You better not cry! Better not pout I’m telling you why!”

Peter looked so close to cracking. Josh stood up and waved his arms in the air.

“SANTA CLAUS IS COMING TO TOWN!”

In that instant, Peter lost control. He was definitely laughing and almost lost his balance. Once he finally calmed down, Josh put on a smirk.

“See, I got you to laugh. Now talk to me,” Josh said.

Peter almost had another laughing fit. “I mostly laughed because I can’t take you seriously with that pizza sauce on your face.”

Peter motioned to his chin. Josh wiped his chin area with his napkin.

Peter let out a giggle, “You completely missed it. Here, let me get it.”

Peter walked over to Josh with a fresh napkin and wiped his chin.

Boy, they were awfully close. Peter could feel Josh’s breath on his hand as he wiped the pizza sauce. Something felt right in the moment. The two inched closer until Peter’s eyes were closed and Josh was gently pressing his lips against his.

Josh brought one hand up behind Peter and stroked through his hair. The other rested on Peter’s back. This didn’t feel weird at all. _Should it?_ I mean, they had been best friends for a few years and they were probably ruining it.

The kiss deepened. Peter allowed Josh’s tongue into his mouth and they sloppily kissed while Josh’s hand lowered. _What an ass!_ Josh had noticed it before but he never knew it would feel so good in his hand.

Peter let out a moan. Josh thought it was so hot. He regretted nothing.

Then the shirts came off. They hastily shoved each other’s shirts over their heads in an attempt to feel each other’s bare skin. Josh was being a bit aggressive and pushed hard against Peter, their lips literally _crashing_ against each other. Soon, the two were horizontal, making out on the ground.

Their lips separated abruptly. They stared each other in the eyes.

“What the fuck?” Josh whispered.

But he didn’t want it to stop, so he crashed his lips up against Peter’s and continued to make out with his best friend. They rolled around on the floor a little bit until Peter was on top of Josh. Peter began kissing down Josh’s neck, attempting to get a loud moan from Josh. He began sucking on his nipples, trying desperately to get a moan. His life depended on it.

He kept moving down, kissing and sucking on Josh’s chest. He finally got his stupid moan when he got near Josh’s belly button. Peter couldn’t wait any longer.

He unbuckled Josh’s belt and shoved his pants away. Next, he ripped his underwear off and saw Josh’s package. And boy was Josh packing.

Peter wrapped his lips around Josh’s dick and had the time of his life. Getting excited from Josh’s little moans and loving the feeling in his mouth. Peter never thought he would be doing this, especially not with Josh, but he was glad he was.

Josh was growing painfully hard and wanted to feel something new.

“Petey,” he moaned out, “Can I--”

He let out a huuuuge moan.

“Can I... fuck you?”

Peter wasted no time. He ripped the rest of his clothing off and bent down, waiting for Josh to enter. Josh stood up and looked at Peter’s sweet ass, hesitating for a split second before finally getting his booty, feeling like a successful pirate.

He went slow at first, as this was Peter’s first time, and his own but that didn’t matter at the moment. Peter, however, seemed bored with the lack of speed and began rocking his own body, hoping Josh would pick up on what he was doing.

Josh did, and picked up speed.

Everything felt so great. This was a lot better than a bottle of lotion and his own hand.

It wasn’t soon before Josh finished.

“Fuck! Tyler!” Josh shouted as he slowed to a stop.

Peter became awkward and stood still.

“Shit!” Josh said, realizing his mistake.

Peter slowly got himself free of Josh and began wiping himself with a box of tissues lying nearby. He then started to put on his clothes, not looking in the direction of Josh.

“Fuck, Petey, I’m so sorry,” Josh said, tears coming to his eyes. He didn’t mean to hurt his best friend like that.

There was awkward silence.

“Peter, please,” Josh began, “talk to me or I’ll sing again.”

“Go,” Peter finally said, still not looking Josh in the eyes.

“Peter, please. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean-”

“Go,” Peter repeated, looking up briefly before returning his eyes to the ground.

Josh wiped himself, hastily put on his clothing, and headed up the stairs to the main level.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I'm sorry, please don't hate me!


	12. Taken By Sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I know, I need to update more often. I'm terrible.

Josh never answered his text. And he wouldn’t talk to him at work. Two and a half weeks had gone by. And word had gotten out. Tyler found out about the _texts_ that everyone was sending to Josh. He hated Mark for being such a gossip.

But he knew it wasn’t Mark’s fault. Mark wasn’t the one who kissed Josh and claimed it was all Josh’s doing. Mark wasn’t the one who played with Josh’s feelings and covered it up to keep his reputation. But that doesn’t save Mark from the fact that he spread this story around, adding some filler details and even taking his number off of Tyler’s phone that night after he had collapsed on the couch. That’s how everyone had gotten Josh’s number to text him.

So really, everything went back to Tyler. Tyler had done all of the evil. He wishes he had never picked up his first drink that night. He’s losing sleep over the many mistakes he made that night, and it happened two and a half weeks ago.

It was now the ninth of August and school was about to start.

Tyler should be enjoying the rest of his summer and having fun, but he’s sitting on his bed at 3:53 am, being stressed the fuck out. Words are coming to his head and he has no idea what to do with them.

Not just words. There’s something _musical_ about them. Tyler had written 3 or 4 songs in his life, one of them being about Taco Bell, but he was certainly not a songwriter. So he was very surprised when _lyrics_ came to his head.

He leaves his bedroom and climbs down the stairs, heading to the living room. This is where they keep the grand piano that doesn’t get much use. Tyler had always wanted to learn but he could never bring himself to spend a lot of time at the piano.

He could feel a melody in his head but he had no idea what keys to press or which keys would make a nice sounding chord. He plunked out a few keys until he found one of the notes he was thinking of. He played around until he found the rest of the notes in his first chord. Before he knew it, it was 4:03 and he had a chord progression.

He ran upstairs to get his notebook and his phone.

He recording a voice memo of the chord progression he had worked on. It was a lot slower than he intended, but he wasn’t very good at the piano, so he had an excuse. Then he began to scribble down the lyrics that kept flooding his brain. Figuring out how fast they should go and where the verse should end and the chorus should begin.

He wanted to reference how late it was somewhere in the song, so he checked his phone. It was 4:10 am. A lyric came to him almost instantly!

“Now it’s 10 after 4, and I am taken by sleep,” Tyler recited, in a hushed voice.

Now he needed a second verse.

* * *

 

When he was completely done with the song, it was almost 5 am and he was very very tired. Getting his emotions out through this song really helped him. But it still didn’t fix things with Josh… Maybe if he played the song for Josh, it could be a start.

He really wished that Josh could understand how he felt. This wasn’t such a good situation for Tyler either. He had lost one of his good friends, everyone at work hated him, and he felt like he had to have a serious talk with Jenna. He was figuring out some things and he had no one to talk to. But it was unfair to keep these things from Jenna. She was coming home… today. She really had enjoyed her summer program and was ready to commit to NYU before she even officially got in. They had talked on the phone a few hours ago.

She again asked if Tyler would apply too, so that they could go together and continue their relationship and eventually get married and have 3 beautiful kids and grow old together. Well maybe she didn’t say _all_ that, but she might as well have. Tyler was very unsure of his future, but he knew it was going in that direction. Love was definitely not for Tyler.

* * *

 

Josh was also up at this hour, waking up every hour or so, completely taken over by anxiety about his current situation. Everyone at school probably hated him when just a few months ago, none of them really knew him. And the person that hated him most was Peter. His _best_ friend. They really shouldn’t have done that the other night.

And Josh made a mistake and was thinking about Tyler the whole time. God! Why did Tyler have to be so hot and stupid at the same time. And homophobic. And kinda into him. But posing as a straight guy. Love was definitely not for Josh.

Josh didn’t quite blame that situation on himself anymore, but it didn’t matter anyway because now Josh had lost Peter in the aftermath. And these texts didn’t stop either. He got at least one a day. Sometimes they were from numbers that had already texted him, and sometimes from new numbers.

And Peter didn’t answer any of Josh’s texts or calls, so Josh pretty much wanted to throw his phone into a lake. Or maybe himself. Things needed to change and they needed to change fast.

Maybe Josh could quit school and work full time at the cafe. Everyone at the cafe loves him… except for that dick bag Tyler Joseph. He needed a place to be away from all of the drama.

* * *

 

It was mid morning rush at Westman’s and Josh was holding down the fort. They were down a crew member and Josh was annoyed that he had to handle the rush by himself. Carl was trying to help as much as possible but he had a ton of shit to do. The head manager was coming in this afternoon and everything had to be perfect.

When the rush finally calmed down, Josh made himself a cup of green tea and stretched a little.

“You have any idea where Joseph is?” Carl asked with an eyebrow raised.

“What?” Josh said, almost spitting out his tea, being caught by surprise by the mention of Tyler.

“Joseph was supposed to come in this morning. He was the missing barista. Tried calling. Nothing.”

“That’s weird,” Josh muttered.

Now he was kinda glad he had to deal with the rush mostly alone. He didn’t want to see Tyler.

Just then the phone rang.

“I gotta take that,” Carl said frantically. “Might be my boss!”

Josh was again alone at the front of Westman’s. He didn’t mind. It was calm now anyway.

“Josh!” came a shout from the back.

Josh was startled. He began to make his way to the backroom of Westman’s.

“Josh!” Carl said when Josh walked through the door. “There’s been an accident!”


	13. I Want To See Your Face Today

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for  
> 1\. not posting very often  
> 2\. this chapter

It was almost time for Tyler to go to work. He was very tired from not getting much sleep. He barely even felt his phone buzz as he ate some boring cereal for breakfast.

_ Jenna: I’ll be home at 10 am! Wanna chill later? ;) _

Shiiiiiit. Tyler wasn’t sure if he wanted to see Jenna today, but he had to get something off his chest. He thought of a chill way to respond. Everything was  _ totally _ chill! He was not freaking out  _ at all. _

_ Tyler: Yeah. I get off work at 2 tho _

_ Jenna: k, come pick me up after _

That seemed casual enough. Maybe this talk would go well. Or maybe all of this stress was just in Tyler’s head and talking it out would make him realize he was wrong. But… maybe he was right and he was a mess and love just wasn’t for him.

Tyler finished his cereal and put on his work clothes. He looked in the mirror in his bedroom and saw the bags under his eyes. He really needed some sleep tonight. Tyler walked downstairs, grabbed his keys, and made his way to his car in the driveway. The engine revved to life and Tyler put the car into reverse and maneuvered onto the street. He lived pretty close to Westman’s, so it wouldn’t be long before he got to work.

The road was pretty clear this time of day, so Tyler didn’t have to look out for a mess of cars when turning left out of his neighborhood. Gosh, Tyler was sooooo tired. He didn’t even remember taking that left turn but now he was on the main road.

Next thing he knew, he heard a loud horn blaring. There were headlights in front of him.

SHIT! TYLER WAS IN THE WRONG LANE! He had no time to think, no time to move, no time to save himself from what happened next.

He tried to pull the steering wheel but he was too late. There was the initial sound of the impact and then everything went black.

* * *

 

Josh was currently going 60 miles per hour in a 35 zone. Yes he was speeding, but this was very important. Not that Josh could do anything, but he really wanted Tyler to be okay. Even though Tyler was a rich snob dick bag, he was still Josh’s friend. Keyword “was,” but still. Josh would never wish his enemies dead for real. Only himself.

He didn’t know what he’d say if Tyler was okay. That  _ he _ was sorry? He didn’t do anything. Tyler was the one who kissed  _ him. _ But maybe he could finally put this grudge behind him and maybe he and Tyler could actually be friends again.

As much as Josh loved giving Tyler the cold shoulder, he missed having his friendship more than ever. Especially since now he only had Math Girl, because he fucked things up with Peter. Literally…

God, this whole thing was a mess. But maybe if Josh began by forgiving Tyler, everything would fall back into line. So he wanted to march into that hospital room and hope that everything could be fine.

… But, Tyler still did a horrible, shitty, terrible thing… Maybe Josh shouldn’t forgive him. He slowed down to 45 mph, giving himself more time to think. Why was he speeding to go see Tyler anyway…

Well, I guess Tyler did try to apologize… and Josh ignored the apology. Maybe he was going to the hospital to accept Tyler’s apology and make things right again. YEAH! That was it.

Well, Josh was at the hospital now and it was time to face the music… Why did his mind have to be so goddamn cliche?

Josh slowly opened his car door and stepped out into the open. The millions of thoughts that were racing through his head had all slowed to a stop. Josh had to see if Tyler was okay. That was the main priority. Everything else could be handled after he saw Tyler.

He made his way to the front door of the hospital. Then, Josh walked up to the front desk and asked what room Tyler Joseph was in.  _ 302 _ . With that information, Josh went straight to the elevator.

Going up two floors felt like it took forever. Josh was sure the elevator had gone up seven thousand and three floors instead. Sure enough, the elevator doors slowly opened and a number three was lit on the display.

Josh stepped out of the elevator and frantically looked around. 301, 302! Tyler was in there. The door was wide open and Josh could see the back of a figure he presumed was Tyler. He took a deep breath and walked into the room. There was a nurse on the other side of the room taking down notes on a clipboard.

“Is he okay?” Josh asked in a quiet voice.

The nurse must not have heard him, or even noticed him, because she kept scribbling on her clipboard.

Josh cleared his throat, “Is he okay?”

The nurse looked up, clearly surprised by Josh’s presence. She calmed down, “He has a few broken bones and possibly a concussion. No loud noises in the room please.”

Josh looked at Tyler in his hospital bed, sleeping soundly.

“Are you supposed to let someone with a concussion sleep?” Josh asked.

The nurse looked confused and then saw Josh pointing at Tyler.

“Oh, you’re here for him,” she began, “I thought you were here for  _ him _ .”

Josh followed her gaze to the other bed in the room, which he had not noticed until just now. There was a man, who looked to be in his early to mid twenties, sitting up and staring at the wall. His face looked a bit scratched up, but once Josh studied his gelled brown hair, he recognized the man as “8:25.”

Right on cue, he fixed his gaze on Josh. He looked pretty shaken up and deep in thought, so Josh did not expect him to say:

“Can I have a large English toffee latte?”

Josh was caught off guard, but nonetheless, he smiled at the man.

“It’s nice to see you too,” Josh said back, making sure he didn’t speak too loudly.

The nurse spoke again before anyone else could, “I need to go run these papers down to the doctor. I should be back soon.”

With that, Josh was left alone in a room with two cute boys.

“What happened to you?” Josh asked awkwardly.

“ _ He _ ran into me,” 8:25 said, motioning to Tyler.

He had come in at his usual time, so he must’ve run into Tyler as he was leaving and Tyler was coming. Josh was slowly trying to piece together exactly what happened.

“Has he been sleep all this time?” Josh asked.

“Save a few moments, yeah,” he replied.

Josh felt like he shouldn’t question this man too much. His head was probably killing him. Well not  _ killing _ him. That’s an inappropriate word to use in this case, since Josh thought Tyler might have been dead.

Josh walked over beside Tyler’s bed and watched him sleep. He needed to talk to his former friend. 8:25 seemed to get the idea and went back to staring at the wall.

“Look Tyler, I know you can’t hear me, but I need to talk to you. I know we haven’t talked in quite some time, but it’s partly my fault. I hope that we can be friends again and that we can put what happened in the past.”

At this point, Josh was just practicing what he was going to say when Tyler was actually awake.

“Maybe,” he thought aloud, “We had a great friendship before the shit that went down at the party, and if you’re willing to take responsibility for that, then I should be willing to accept your apology. Because I miss your friendship.”

Josh turned around and sat on the end of Tyler’s bed. He sat, thinking, and was caught off guard when he started to hear some mumbled rap-talking-crap.

_ Spending hours on end, deciding what I’d say to a friend if I ever saw him again _

_ Cause I don’t know if I know, don’t want to come across the wrong way _

_ And I don’t know if I know, but I know I want to see your face today _

Tyler stopped for a breath.

“Tyler,” Josh said with a single tear streaming down his cheek. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I’m glad you still wanna be my friend,” Tyler replied.

Just then, three individuals stepped into the room. First was a middle aged looking man wearing New Balances, who had his arm around a blonde woman of about the same age. Next to them was the blonde girl from Westman’s Cafe.

“Tyler, we’re back,” the blonde woman said with a smile, “And we brought Jenna.”

_ Jenna _ .

“Who’s your friend?” the man in the New Balances asked.

“Oh, hey,” the blonde girl,  _ Jenna _ , said to Josh, “you work at Westman’s with Ty!”

“This is Josh,” Tyler said.

_ Jenna _ is the blonde girl. Her failing relationship was with  _ Tyler _ . Except it was looking up, save the fact that Tyler kissed Josh and probably hadn’t told Jenna because she would’ve known who he was and hated him and that’s not how that moment just went down. Josh’s mind was racing again.

He felt like he could just fall over and die.


	14. Holding On To You

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please prepare yourselves. You will need a few BOXES of tissues for this chapter (for multiple reasons)

Tyler was in a very uncomfortable position. And not physically- the bed he was in was super soft. It’s just that he hadn’t had time to privately talk with Jenna because he crashed his car into some other dude’s and was in the hospital.

And of course he couldn’t talk to Jenna right here in front of his parents.  _ And Josh _ . Jeeeeez, this was very uncomfortable.

“Tyler,” his mom began, “We were just telling Jenna here how you broke your right arm and both wrists.”

“Poor Ty,” Jenna said with a small pout.

“Well anyway, hi Josh, it’s nice to meet another one of Tyler’s friends,” Mrs. Joseph grinned.

“Nice to meet you Mr. and Mrs. Joseph,” Josh said in a small voice.

Tyler was tired of this small talk. “Hey guys, you think I could talk to Jenna alone for a second? It’s just been a few weeks.”

Tyler felt like Josh shrank to the size of a grape. He was probably feeling very uncomfortable.

“We’ll go wait outside,” Tyler’s dad said, moving towards the door.

When they were gone Tyler began speaking. “Hey Jenna, there’s something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about for a while.”

He really didn’t want to do this here and now, but he felt like he couldn’t keep hiding this.

“What is it Tyler? Are you okay?” Jenna asked.

Jenna looked at Tyler’s current state and felt awkward about what she had just said, but he understood that she meant mentally.

“It’s just… our future. There’s something you need to know.” Tyler’s mouth felt extremely dry.

“Our future?” Jenna looked worried.

The guy in the other bed began having a coughing fit just then.  _ That’s right. _ They weren’t even actually alone.

“Sorry,” he said when he was done coughing and resumed staring at the wall.

Tyler definitely could not do this right here and right now. He thought of something else he could say that still seemed serious.

“I’m not really interested in NYU. Like I don’t wanna go there.”

Jenna was getting a little misty-eyed but she didn’t seem heartbroken.

“I mean that’s fine,” she began, “we can worry about the future as it comes. I just thought- I thought you wanted to go. That’s why I pushed it so much.”

“I’m sorry, it’s just not my thing,” Tyler offered.

“It’s fine baby, I still love you,” Jenna said before giving Tyler a quick kiss.

Call Tyler a pussy, sure, but he just wasn’t ready. Maybe it was terrible to keep stringing Jenna along like this, but they were happy right? No need to change that. Deep down, he knew that he was completely wrong, but doing this was easy. There was no need to complicate things.

* * *

 

Over the next few weeks, everything felt very different. Tyler couldn’t work anymore because he couldn’t use his fucking arms. He mostly stayed at home and watched TV, because he couldn’t play video games right now either.

If he tried really hard, he could call Jenna without his parents’ help. He just had to try as hard as possible not to move his wrists. He also had to attempt this with his arm that wasn’t broken.

Jenna had visited twice a week, feeding him cookies she made whenever she came over. He really wished he could feed himself. He really wished he had never gotten in that accident in the first place.

School was starting soon and he wouldn’t even be able to take notes.

But the major difference in the first few weeks after the accident was that Josh had been around a lot more. Since the big apology acceptance, their friendship had gotten a chance to grow. Tyler heard from Josh more than Mark or Chris or Will, because all they wanted to do was party or play video games, and Tyler couldn’t do either of those things right now.

Tyler was beginning to see how douchey he and his friend group was. So he was glad he had Josh. Josh would come over and just talk to him for a few hours, sometimes after work. He’d always bring something from Westman’s- one of Emily’s baked goods. Wow did Tyler miss the cafe.

* * *

 

“So how was work today?” Tyler asked one afternoon when Josh came over.

“It was fine,” Josh said. That was his usual response.

Tyler smiled a bit, “What’s today’s treat Joshy?”

“Don’t call me that again,” Josh laughed out. “But today I brought a snickerdoodle cookie.”

Tyler’s heart melted. “Oh my gosh!”

Josh pulled the cookie out from his work apron and began taking off the wrapping.

“Josh, you’re literally the best,” Tyler said with a smile going from ear to ear.

Josh loved that smile. He held the cookie up to Tyler’s face so he could take a bite.

“I know,” Josh replied with a cocky smile.

“Tell Emily she’s doing a great job,” Tyler got out through a mouth full of cookie.

Josh used his free hand to grab the remote and surf through channels.

“Ugh nothing good on,” Josh complained.

He held the cookie up for Tyler to take another bite.

Finally Josh had landed on some trashy movie with a bunch of teenagers on a beach.

“Ooh, this looks hot,” Josh joked.

“Pleeeease no,” Tyler shot back.

“What?” Josh laughed, “You don’t wanna see a bunch of chicks in bikinis? Afraid of them?”

“No,” Tyler said. “I really don’t wanna… it’s been a few weeks since…”

“Oh shit,” Josh caught on, “Forgot both your wrists were broken.”

Josh held up the cookie for Tyler while awkward silence droned on.

“Don’t you have a girlfriend for that?” Josh finally said.

Tyler coughed and spit out the pieces of snickerdoodle cookie he had in his mouth.

“Dude!” Tyler shouted.

After a bit more silence, Tyler added, “Just hasn’t been a good time. The only times Jenna can come over, my family is home. Wish she had the same schedule as you.”

“Ah,” Josh said, feeling awkward for having brought up the subject in the first place.

“Too bad you can’t… like… do stuff,” Tyler half joked.

“I mean… I… it would…” Josh stuttered.

“I mean that would be cheating. W-wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah. Sure…”

“I mean… I guess not… I-if you’re just like… helping a bro out.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like…” Tyler trailed off, “Just giving me a hand, I guess.”

There was a heavy awkward silence. Josh had definitely thought about doing this but never in this context.

“I mean… if you’re like… okay with it, I guess?” Tyler added.

Josh felt a bit sorry for Tyler, “I mean… would I be a real bro if I didn’t help out?”

“So like… you’re okay with it? Like it wouldn’t  _ mean _ anything,” Tyler said weakly.

“Of course,” Josh replied.

He sat down the cookie and slowly reached for Tyler’s belt. He unbuckled the belt, undid the zipper and pulled down Tyler’s pants, sluggishly.

“I mean, you can like, go faster than that,” Tyler whispered.

“Right,” Josh said as he quickly pulled down Tyler’s underwear and saw _it,_ already hard and ready to go. He sat there staring for a moment.

“So…” Tyler trailed off.

“Sorry, it’s just… bigger than I expected,” Josh blurted out. “Shit what an awkward thing to say.”

Josh didn’t know if he could do this anymore, but he didn’t wanna let Tyler down. He spit in his hand and started stroking Tyler’s dick. He saw Tyler grimace slightly.

“Shit, sorry, I didn’t ask,” Josh said, realizing his spit was on his best friend’s dick.

“N-no it’s fine. Just wasn’t expecting it,” Tyler replied.

Josh continued moving his hand up and down, and began to speed up his motions. He briefly looked at Tyler’s face.  _ Big mistake. _ Tyler was definitely fucking enjoying this and Josh should not be doing this and oh my fucking gosh what was he doing with his life?

“You can turn off the TV,” Tyler said to break the silence. “It feels more awkward than it should with this stupid teen show on.”

Josh reached with his free hand, not removing his other hand from Tyler at all, and grabbed the remote. He quickly pressed the power button and set the remote back down.

“So are you excited for school?” Josh asked, trying to make this at least a little less awkward.

“I guess. I can’t really-”

Just then, Tyler let out a deep moan. This was definitely more awkward now. Especially since Josh’s pants were now way tighter than they were when he got here.

“Um,” Tyler tried again, “I’ll have to have people take notes for me.”

“Oh yeah. That’s true,” Josh said awkwardly.

They let the conversation die there. Josh continued beating Tyler’s meat, and Tyler stared off to the side, being careful not to make eye contact with Josh. Tyler began to tense up a bit and Josh could tell that he was close. He sped up his motions and bit more and tried to ignore Tyler’s half-stifled moans.

Suddenly, Tyler lifted his hips up a bit and shouted “fuck, Josh!”

Josh’s hand was now sticky and white.

Tyler began trying to recover his heavy breathing and Josh just kept his hand still around Tyler’s dick and stared at the scene.

“Get some tissues or something,” Tyler said between breaths.

That snapped Josh out of his trance. He quickly stood up and tried not to let his hand drip onto anything. He found a box of tissues in the bathroom and quickly wiped his hand, then threw the messy tissue into the toilet.

Josh exited the bathroom and went over to Tyler, cleaning up the mess that was left on and around him. When he was done, he threw away the tissues, put Tyler’s clothing back on and then excused himself to the bathroom for a few minutes.

* * *

 

When he came back, his pants were no longer tight and he felt way more awkward than he did just minutes before. This may have completely ruined their friendship.

“Hey. Th-thanks Josh,” Tyler stuttered.

“Uh, no problem Ty,” Josh replied.

_ Yep, definitely ruined. _

“Hey so like,” Josh began, “I think I’m gonna head out now. I’ll see ya at school on Monday.”

“See ya, Josh,” Tyler said as he watched his best friend walk out the door.

He stared at the door as the lock turned, Josh having locked it with the spare key had had to visit Tyler since he couldn’t open the door himself.

Tyler saw his phone sitting on the coffee table. He really needed to talk to Jenna right now. He lowered his whole arm, careful not to shift his wrist even a centimeter, and held on the round button.

“Siri,” Tyler commanded, “Call Jenna on speaker phone.”

“Calling Jenna, heart emoji, on speaker phone,” Siri responded.

After a few rings, Tyler heard his girlfriend’s voice.

“Tyler?”

“Hey Jenna,” Tyler said back.

“Hey, are you okay? I’m still babysitting right now,” the blonde explained.

Tyler really didn’t want to do this over the phone, but he felt like if he tried in person, he wouldn’t actually commit.

“Do you think you could excuse yourself like to the bathroom or something?”

“Sure,” Jenna offered. “Kids, I’ll be right back, okay?”

Tyler heard footsteps and then a door close. “You alone?”

“Yeah,” Jenna said. “What’s up?”

“So did you hear about the party that happened while you were gone?” Tyler began.

“What do you mean Ty?”

Tyler could hear the worry in Jenna’s voice. “So a boy kissed me…”

“Where are you going with this Tyler?”

“I’m gay.” Tyler said simply. It was the first time he had ever said those words out loud together. He had thought it many times in the past few weeks, but he never believed he was would say it out. Especially not to Jenna  _ on the phone. _

“Jenna?” Tyler asked after a bit of silence.

She was replaying so many moments of their relationship. He wasn’t very sexually motivated towards her. It all started to make sense.

“I thought… I thought you were just shy, but now I know,” Jenna finally said.

“Jenna I’m so sorry. I love you, I just can’t  _ love _ you like that.”

“Tyler, don’t be sorry. I’m glad you figured this out. It hurts that I’m losing you, but I can’t change you.”

“Jenna you don’t have to lose me…”

“Ty, we can still be friends, I know, but I’m going to need to get over you. This isn’t going to be all good right this instant.”

“Jenna, I’m so sorry. I didn’t wanna hurt you.”

“Ty, never apologize for being who you are.” Jenna sniffled. “Look, I gotta go. We can talk more later.”

There was silence. She hung up on him before he could say bye.


	15. Metaphorically I’m a Whore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for over a thousand hits guys! I never thought my trash would get so much activity!

It was the first day of school and Tyler was very worried. He hadn’t talked to Jenna or Josh since a few days ago when he ruined both of those relationships. Also, Tyler couldn’t use his wrists for a few more weeks. They were healing, but they still needed more time. He was lucky he hadn’t been going faster when he crashed his car.

Tyler had somehow managed to find someone in each of his classes to take notes for him… except English. Tyler was planning on taking CP English like all the rest of his friends this year, but a few weeks ago, Tyler decided to switch to AP so he could use the credit. He was in AP last year and did okay on the test, but he wanted to do better on AP 12 so he could get credit for classes… at whatever college he was going to.

The only worry he had was the summer assignment. Since he switched into AP just a few weeks ago, he hadn’t had the whole summer to read the book and analyze the themes or whatever shit English teachers said.

Anyway, he didn’t know anyone taking AP, and so he was probably screwed for the first few weeks of class. Hopefully there wouldn’t be many notes in English though. What can you really talk about in English class that would require note taking?

“Tyler! Come on, it’s time to go!” his brother Zack shouted from downstairs.

Tyler made his way downstairs and grumpily followed Zack into their mom’s car. Since Tyler wrecked his car and has broken wrists, she was going to be driving Tyler and Zack to school, along with Jay and Maddie, who were in elementary and middle school, respectively.

The car was cramped and Tyler only had himself to blame for that. On the bright side, there wouldn’t be much more of this, because the Joseph’s had already gotten a new car and soon Zack would get his license. Getting driven around by your younger brother isn’t the best option out there, but it’s better than spending a car ride with all of your younger siblings.

* * *

 

Josh had now gotten sexual with two of his best friends. He really needs to think before he acts. Plus, what is it about Tyler and Josh that they can’t keep a normal friendship? First Tyler kisses Josh but pretends it wasn’t his fault. Then when everything has finally been forgiven, Josh agrees to jerk Tyler off *platonically* to try to help out a friend, but then it’s super awkward. And while all of that is going on, Tyler has a girlfriend.

Jenna hasn’t been into Westman’s in a while and it’s probably because she hates Josh. Tyler definitely told her about everything that went down between them and that’s probably why she hasn’t come into Westman’s. And Josh was still trying to get Peter to talk to him, but Peter wasn’t answering his texts. Absolutely everything was Josh’s fault.

Now it was the first day of school and Josh’s only friends were Emily and math girl--- Natalie (Josh should probably refer to her by her actual name). Sadly, Natalie was his only friend at school. He only saw Emily at work.

Either way, it was time for Josh to get in his car and drive to school. Maybe he’d have math with math girl again, or maybe he’d see Peter and they would make up. Hell, Josh would be happy if at the very least, he was in classes with all new people and could get a fresh start. Except that doesn’t usually happen in high school. He’s bound to run into at least a few familiar faces.

And he did. He was sitting alone at lunch when he heard Jenna say: “Mind if I sit here?”

“No, go ahead,” Josh replied, a bit confused as to why she wanted to sit with him.

“How’s it going?” Jenna asked nonchalantly.

“Chill, I guess,” Josh responded. “You haven’t been down to the cafe lately.”

“Oh yeah,” Jenna looked off into the distance, “I haven’t.”

Josh didn’t want to be rude, but this was really awkward and he was very confused.

“Did Tyler make it to school today?” Josh blurted out.

Jenna twitched a bit, “Probably. Guess he’s off with Mark or something.”

_ But why aren’t you with Tyler? _ Something was definitely off. Jenna stared off into the distance again.

“Everything okay Jenna?” Josh asked. “You need more relationship advice?”

He must’ve asked both the right and the wrong question because Jenna turned to him and had the facial expression of a deer in headlights.

“I don’t have a relationship,” were the words that came out of her mouth.

“Shit, sorry Jenna. Do you wanna talk about it?”

“Don’t be sorry, Josh. It’s not your fault. Or Tyler’s either.”

Except it may have been Josh’s fault. Did Tyler tell her about what happened last week. No that wouldn’t make sense. She wouldn’t be so friendly to Josh right now. It had to have been something else.

“If you don’t wanna talk about it, it’s fine,” Josh finally said.

“Thanks Josh. You’re a great friend!”

_ A  _ great _ friend who has kissed  _ and _ jerked off her ex-boyfriend while they were dating... _

* * *

 

The day wasn’t as terrible as Tyler had thought. Mark was in his math class and had taken all of his notes for him, which were written in some shitty handwriting, but at least he had notes.

Tyler saw Jenna around the halls a few times, and she didn’t flip him off or avoid his gaze, so maybe she didn’t hate him. Maybe they could fix the mess they were in and be friends. Maybe Tyler wouldn’t be the lonely loser he felt like this morning.

And yeah, not being able to write would kinda suck for the next few weeks, but at least he had people to take notes for him. He’d be fine soon enough and be able to conquer school completely on his own.

Tyler’s main lunch squad: Mark, Chris, and Will, was back in commission. It was great for Tyler to catch up with his party crazy friends. They hadn’t really reached out much those weeks he was injured and home alone most of the day, but Tyler silently forgave them. Everything was fine.

Now, it was the end of the day, though, and Tyler was sitting in his AP English class. The board read “partner project over summer assignment.”  _ Shit! _ He had better get assigned to someone who knew this book inside and out. Tyler couldn’t even remember the name of it at the moment.

Tyler looked around the classroom. Pretty much everyone was talking at the moment. The final bell hadn’t rang yet. Everyone was getting to know the person sitting next to them, if they didn’t know them already.

Tyler’s desk partner was nowhere to be seen. He was getting worried that he’d have to do this project on his own. And he couldn’t just change seats or anything. His English teacher had told every kid where to sit upon entering the room. So she had the pairs thought up already.

Just then the bell rang. Tyler was fucked. At least the due date on the board was far out enough that Tyler would have time to finish the book… Tyler looked up at the teacher with the short blonde hair, who sat up from her desk and began to walk to the front board.

The teacher must have sensed his agony, because she smiled at him and asked: “What’s wrong dear?”

“I don’t have a desk partner,” Tyler shyly responded.

“Why yes you do. Your desk partner is-”

Just then, there were two knocks at the door.

* * *

 

Josh’s last class of the day was with Mrs. Lorell. As Josh walked down the hallway, he thought about what previous seniors had said about her. It seemed like Josh had lucked out. In fact, Josh was so busy thinking about how lucky he was to get Mrs. Lorell that he didn’t see the boy on his phone right in front of him.

“Ow!” a familiar voice said, from the ground.

“Sorry, I didn’t-” Josh stopped speaking when he looked down to see who the boy was that he knocked down.

“Sorry Peter,” Josh said after an awkward silence.

“Wow you actually know my name this time,” Peter huffed out.

He began to walk away, clearly annoyed to see Josh and to just have been knocked over by him.

“Wait! Peter!” Josh called out, running after his friend.

“What do you want,” Peter turned around to say.

“Look, Peter,” Josh started, “I’m so sorry. I know I can’t undo what I did, but please, for the love of God, can we work this out. You’re my best friend and my life sucks without you. You’re basically my only friend. And I did the most stupid thing on an impulse and fucked up our friendship. But can you please at least acknowledge me, so that we can talk this out?”

“What about your fuckboy Tyler Joseph?” Peter replied coldly.

“Peter… I fucked that up too.”

Peter looked genuinely sorry.

“I just, I really need a friend Peter. And I feel like our many years of friendship shouldn’t end because of this stupid thing that I did.”

Peter rushed forward and hugged Josh. And not just a loose hug you give an acquaintance when something terrible happens. Not even a quick hug you give to your mom as you’re getting out of her car and heading to school. No, this hug was much deeper than that. This was the hug of someone who cared deeply for their best friend and wanted to make sure that they felt loved and needed.

This made all of those hugs you gave out as a child seem like sloppy handshakes. This hug made the hug you gave to your mother this morning seem like a cheap wave goodbye. This hug meant that Peter forgave Josh and was willing to put their stupid hookup behind them so that they could be best friends forever, as they should have always been.

The bell signalling the last class beginning rang. This brought the hugging boys out of their trance.

“Alright J, you gotta get to class!” Peter said, breaking the hug. “We can hang out later. We have a lot to catch up on.”

Josh smiled at his best friend. “See ya later P.”

Now the heartfelt moment was over and Josh realized he was late to class. Mrs. Lorell’s classroom was a bit around the corner, so he decided to run. His day was looking up. Maybe his teacher, who is supposed to be awesome, would excuse his tardiness and he’ll have a great class period.

When Josh gets to the classroom, the door is already closed… and locked. Josh forms a fist and knocks hard, twice, on the wooden door. After a moment, the door is opened by a smiling blonde lady with short hair and feathery earrings on.

“Joshua Dun,” she says, as if he is right on cue.

She’s pointing towards the middle of the room. Josh shifts his eyes towards that direction and sees the last person he’d ever thought he’d see in AP English: Tyler fucking Joseph.

This didn’t make sense. Tyler was supposed to be taking CP, remember? Wasn’t that in like Chapter 1? On the last day of school, Josh had been thrilled to find out that Tyler was taking CP English senior year.  _ Not _ AP. Josh was supposed to be in AP. He thought he wouldn't have to worry about being in Tyler’s English class.

“Well go on. Take your seat,” Mrs. Lorell said to Josh, pointing to the empty seat next to Tyler.

Josh took his seat beside Tyler. Probably very reluctantly, but he still took his seat next to Tyler.

What are the odds that Josh and Tyler would be in the same exact English class AND be paired together for this big fucking project? Tyler knew it’d be very awkward  _ but _ Josh was known to be an English nerd, so they’d probably nail this project. So at least there was one good thing about this.

But if Tyler was really lucky, maybe Josh would start talking to him again. It had only been a few days, but it felt like Josh was purposefully not talking to Tyler after their little  _ moment. _ And it  _ was _ awkward as hell, but that’s why Tyler and Josh needed to talk about this.

It was obvious that that was not just a “bro thing”. Tyler didn’t know why he pitched the idea like that in the first place. Deep down, he really had just wanted to have the moment for himself, and he basically forced it, at the cost of his and Josh’s second chance at a friendship.

But is that what Tyler  _ really _ wanted? Did he really want to be  _ just friends _ with Josh?

Probably not, but it was obvious that he had made some mistakes in showing his feelings. One major one being Jenna. But he wasn’t with Jenna anymore, and it was really soon, but if this was the real thing, Tyler couldn’t let it slip away.

First he needed to talk out this issue with Josh and make sure they’re both on the same page.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been trying to make longer chapters and post more frequently. Let's see how this works out XD


End file.
